GARMENT factories supplying some of the biggest names in fashion are using Covid-19 as an excuse to smash trade unions, a new report has revealed.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre found that more than 4,870 unionised garment workers had been dismissed by nine factories supplying nine major fashion brands including H&M, Primark and Levi Strauss & Co.

While major brands have blamed mass layoffs on falling sales due to coronavirus-related lockdowns, the centre found that “layoffs disproportionately target unionised workers and labour activists, suggesting that apparel factories are using the pandemic as a cover to attack workers’ freedom of association.”