"Beximco Lays Off 40,000 Garment Workers"

One of Bangladesh’s largest vertically integrated textile and garment manufacturers has axed tens of thousands of its employees ...

At a meeting of a government-formed advisory council committee to review business conditions at Beximco Industrial Park on Sunday, managing director Osman Quader Chowdhury said that 40,000 garment workers across 16 apparel factories, including Beximco Fashions, Crescent Fashion and Design, Shinepukur Garments and Yellow Apparels, would be laid off beginning Dec. 16. As per the Bangladesh Labour Act, they will receive half of their basic salary and allowances for 45 days.

Beximco Group .... said it has struggled financially over the past four months because it has been unable to open new lines of credit for importing raw materials, hampering its ability to fulfill orders or take on new ones amid severe liquidity challenges, a demand downturn, ongoing labor unrest and a contested receivership by the central bank to oversee its outstanding loans and liabilities.

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He said that the conglomerate, whose clients have included Marks & Spencer, Target, Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp. and Zara owner Inditex, has spent 300 crore taka ($25.1 million), including 100 crore taka ($8.4 million) it financed through bank loans, since August, largely to meet employee wages that can cost 60 crore taka ($50 million) each month. The 5-6 crore taka ($419,000-$502,000) that Beximco generates in monthly revenue from subcontracting with other factories has also been “far from sufficient,” Chowdhury said. Inditex declined to comment, and the other brands did not respond to emails seeking the same.

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Last month, workers from several Beximco Industrial Park factories blocked the Chandra-Nabinagar Highway in Gazipur for weeks to protest unpaid October wages, causing traffic disruptions and the temporary closures of several nearby facilities due to safety concerns ...