The government yesterday decided to keep factories open despite spreading coronavirus after a tripartite meeting with industry owners and workers. “It was decided to carry on production at factories,” said the labour and employment ministry in a press release after the meeting, adding that the changing situation would be taken into account later. “The idea is to go on with production,” said Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), in a WhatsApp message. The meeting was organised to take the stock of the latest situation of business climate and the impact of the Covid-19, Aktarul Islam, public relations officer of the labour and employment ministry, told The Daily Star over phone after the meeting. Begum Monnujan Sufian, state minister for labour and employment, the leaders of the BGMEA, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), trade unions and different industries took part in the meeting at the Srama Bhaban in Dhaka. They decided to sit again today, Islam said. They took part in the hurriedly called meeting to decide whether the production in the factories will continue or not as the reports of new coronavirus patients are surfacing every day in the media. Factory owners have taken some precautionary measures under the guidance of the BGMEA. The apparel makers’ platform has already instructed all of its member factories to hang the health instructions given by the government at the factory gates so that the workers can follow these strictly. The BGMEA also instructed the safety committees of the factories to run awareness programmes among the workers and take help of the coronavirus desk of the association for the safety of the workers. It also advised the member factories to put in place hand washing facilities for workers and other employees at factory level to tackle the deadly virus. Awareness should be created among the workers on how to fight coronavirus, Nazma Akter, president of the Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, a platform for workers’ rights, told The Daily Star. She urged the buyers not to cancel work orders as a large number of workers and factory owners will be in big trouble if they do so or reduce the volume of the orders in such a crisis moment. Until 4:30pm yesterday, $607.89 million worth of orders was either cancelled or cut, according to the BGMEA. Some 264 garment factories faced the loss.
