Since the coronavirus pandemic started, garments factories, which are one of the main industries in Bangladesh, began to lose orders as Western countries rapidly canceled shipments due to job and revenue losses. Factories in Bangladesh are now reopening in the hopes of securing new business, even as cases in Bangladesh continue to soar. Tanzia Haq reports.
Garments workers in Bangladesh are caught between unemployment and the coronavirus as factories across the country reopen, beckoning the workers back amidst serious lack of safety.
The Bangladesh government have recently announced that garments factories can reopen on the condition that distancing and other safety measures are followed. But reports from the field say otherwise. Aside from handwashing stations at factory entrances, no other safety measures are being maintained. For most of these workers, public transport is their only option to get to the factories, and have to endure crowded buses despite government bans on public transport.
Bangladesh is highly reliant on its garments industry, which is worth around $34 billion and employs more than 4 million people. The industry has been struggling after the pandemic hit and lost $3.5 billion so far in cancelled orders. The worst hit from these losses have been the workers, who didn’t receive their wages in March. The authorities claim that this was part of the reason to reopen factories and continue keeping business in Bangladesh.
Sarwer Hossain, a workers’ right activist, claim that without the proper safety measures, the authorities so intent on maintaining business in Dhaka are putting their long term business at risk by endangering workers and their families and communities for the sake of short term profits.
