"Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers ordered home as factories stay closed", 5 April 2020

Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers were ordered home... voicing concerns about loss of income after arriving at work to find factories remained shut after the cancellation of Western orders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Although official numbers were not available, labor leaders said the majority of the workers they had spoken to had either been temporarily laid off or sent on leave. A smaller section of workers complained of being sacked...

The workers went to factories in Dhaka hoping to get paid for March and resume work after a 10-day break enforced by the government to tackle the spread of the coronavirus...

Akter said thousands of workers had put their lives at risk due to “mismanagement” in a bid to get back to work, ignoring advice over social distancing and with police outside the factories telling them to return home. “They didn’t have to come back. They could have been told on the phone about the factory closures,”...

Garment worker unions are calling on the government, buyers, or factory owners to pay workers who will struggle to feed themselves and their families with no income...