"Facade of workers’ safety beginning to show cracks during the pandemic", 14 October 2020

More than seven years after the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, issues related to fire, electrical and structural safety in hundreds of the nation's garment factories have improved from before ... Covid-19, however, has put a spotlight on just how "safe" workers really are … Inherent inequities … have left workers vulnerable, and their livelihoods have become even more precarious under this current global pandemic.

A new report released by The Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at the University of California, Berkeley in collaboration with … BRAC University finds that … the garment industry lost USD 4.6 billion between March and May this year. Bangladesh … is part of an unbalanced global system, characterised by contracts that tilt the terms of business in favour of global brands and legal loopholes that can be used to cancel orders, refuse payments and demand discounts…

… [The global apparel sector’s] business model, characterised by hyper-flexibility and limited transparency, contributes to increased incidents of sexual harassment and gender-based violence and to overall declines in the mental and physical health of workers…

… this report finds … almost 60 percent of workers fear that they are somewhat likely or very likely to get infected by the virus in their factory ... More than half of workers would not be able to isolate at home if they contracted the virus, even though 66 percent said that their factory would send workers home if they show symptoms. If factories are going to continue their operations during this crisis, there needs to be certain contingency plans in place for workers who become sick, including providing places to isolate, health care provisions, financial support, and job security.

… [S]alary levels for garment workers have never been adequate for them to support their families, meet their required calorific needs, and accumulate savings … a worker must spend at least Tk 3,270 per month on a variety of foods to meet their calorific needs … when salaries hit their lowest point … 77 percent of workers in this report said that it was difficult to feed everyone in their household …