The Bangladeshi Factory Workers Behind Russell Brand's Clothes

RUSSELL Brand's clothing line is being made in a factory where employees are paid less than £2 per day

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The gate of the Dird Composite Textiles factory

Workers at DIRD Composite Textiles Ltd, in Bangladesh's Gazipur, say they are made to work overtime and have no union to press for their rights.

Located just outside the capital city of Dhaka, workers say the factory manufactures 'The Trews’ sweatshirt that Brand sells on his website for a minimum of £60 - although buyers can choose to pay more.

Workers eat lunch at their home during their one hour lunch break from the factory

Security at the factory is tight, but employees - speaking on condition of anonymity - gave a series of revealing insights into life at the factory.

A man who works at DIRD said: "I started at the factory eight years ago. My wage now is 7,200 Taka (£59) - that is a low wage.

"We know that the factory manufacturers for big foreign companies who sell them for big prices, but what can we do?

"As small workers, we are powerless. How can we fight against a mighty company? We choose to remain content with the wages that we have."

The man lives in a one room tin shack with his wife, who is also employed at the factory, in an impoverished neighbourhood that is home to many of the factory's employees.

The wife says she began on a monthly salary of 2,550 Taka (£21).

And after working at the site for eight years, her wage has risen to 6,800 Taka (£56), as her wage slip confirms.

She said: "I don’t know why have I only got this amount of increment after working for this long a time - eight years. But then jobs are hard here. So we have to compromise.

"At one point, they had promised us bigger hikes. But it was just a promise. Who fulfils promises these days?”

There are approximately 6,000 staff on the DIRD payrolls - although the absence of a workers' union means that staff at the factory are left with minimal representation, with their concerns often ignored by their bosses.

An employee pictured at her home during her lunch break from the clothing factory

Another female employee said: "There is no platform for us to raise our issues. For instance, if you want to take up the issues of allotted leave.

"Who do you talk to? The manager dismisses it straight away. There is no union for workers either. So we feel that there is no one to sympathise with our problems."

However, a source confirmed that employees are not prohibited from unionising.

An incentive offered to the workers at DIRD is an overtime bonus.

For each hour of overtime on a normal work day, the workers get an additional 41 Taka (30 pence).
But the husband of the couple says workers are often forced to work overtime to help avoid fines for late delivery.

He said: "If the factory owners fail to deliver the product on time, they have pay a fine by paying the delivery charge.

"To avoid that fine, they make the workers work for four to six hours of overtime, although they pay for that overtime but I don’t like to work that long.”

While most workers at the factory are illiterate, many know that the factory's clients included some major brands, including 'The Trews' sold on Russell Brand’s website.

"I can recognise this sweatshirt," said a long-standing worker at DIRD, while looking at a picture of a ‘The Trews’ garment.

"It is also manufactured in the factory. We manufacture a lot of this brand. They say it is a huge foreign company.

"But we also make for lots of other companies and there are lots and lots of garments. So they are all same to us."

Another worker added: "I recognise this (when shown a Trews garment). We make a lot of these. But the production is done at different times of the year.

"We don't manufacture these every day. But I know this design very well. This is a foreign company, so I have heard."

Workers get paid as little as £2 a day, meaning a normal ‘Trews’ sweatshirt is sold for more than what an average DIRD workers earns in a month.

Throughout the working day, the workers in the DIRD factory remain inside the high boundary walls of the factory compound.

One worker explained that on the factory floor, the facilities have been kept at a bare minimum - there are enough mineral water dispensers on every floor to meet legal requirements, but no other facilities.

Three shifts of workers come into the tightly guarded factory each day, filing in from about 20 buses which pick up workers from various locations.

At the factory, all workers undergo two security checks, which the factory claims are in place to prevent theft.

A staff member said: "There is a canteen inside the factory where the workers can sit and have their lunch. But you can go there only during the one-hour lunch break.

"But mostly, we just walk out for a smoke or something. You cannot smoke inside or take breaks otherwise."

Apart from the displeasure about low wages, workers say they are not treated unfairly or shouted at by their superiors, although some complained about being prohibited to use their mobile phones on the factory floor.

A female worker said: "You just go and do your job. The managers don't shout at you without a reason. Then you finish your day and leave."

In response to claims that these working conditions are unethical Brand has revealed that ‘The Trews’ clothing will no longer be produced at the DIRD factory.

In a statement on his website the comedian said: “We found out that a couple of the sizes of sweatshirts we offer may not have been sourced in the ethical way we thought."