Bangladeshi workers in the readymade garments sector suffered a 35 percent pay cut during the lockdown period amid the coronavirus pandemic last year, which had adverse impacts on their rights to food, health, housing, and even life, says a new study. The industry also suffered from the closure of markets, suspended shipments, delayed payments, and a liquidity crisis, added the study. The study report titled “The Weakest Link in the Global Supply Chain: How the Pandemic is Affecting Bangladesh’s Garment Workers” was virtually launched yesterday. The Subir and Malini Chowdhury Centre for Bangladesh Studies, UC Berkeley, in collaboration with the Institute for Human Rights and Business, with support from UNDP Bangladesh and Sweden conducted the study. The report is drawn from in-depth interviews conducted between October 2020 and February 2021 with senior executives from international brands, Bangladeshi suppliers, representatives of the international civil society, and Bangladeshi labour activists. “Although the government mandates that furloughed workers be paid 65 percent of their salary for the first three months of the pandemic, union representatives claimed that many workers did not get paid as promised,” the study said. Referring to a survey by the Centre for Global Workers’ Rights (CGWR) between 21 and 25 March 2020, it said 72 percent of furloughed workers had been sent home without pay. It also found that 98 percent of buyers — many of them big global clients — had refused to contribute to the cost of partial wages for furloughed employees, which was required under Bangladeshi law. “A result of being paid extremely low wages meant that these workers had no savings to cover expenses while they waited for factories to reopen and government stimulus payments to be disbursed. This had adverse effects on several human rights — food, health, housing, even life.” It said when many Bangladeshi factories supplying to international brands consolidated their business, many thousands of workers lost jobs and depleted their savings without having a safety net to fall back on. “As Bangladesh’s second lockdown is underway, the findings offer a cautionary tale on how brands and supply chains should respond.” UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative Sudipto Mukerjee suggested a fundamental mind shift in terms of the role and responsibilities of the business sector. “If we want to reverse pernicious trends that have offset much of the pre-Covid progress made in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we must commit ourselves to tackle the crisis head-on and to do so together.” Subir and Malini Chowdhury Centre for Bangladesh Studies Director Sanchita Saxena said it is extremely critical, now more than ever, to engage in research to understand the impacts of Covid-19 throughout the world. “In Bangladesh, while the pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable communities, it has been particularly detrimental for the workers at the very bottom of global supply chains in the nation’s many garment factories,” stated. While the scale of the pandemic took everyone by surprise, lessons must be learned from the experience so that the effect of Bangladesh’s second lockdown, now underway, causes the least harm to those who suffered the most the last time, said Salil Tripathi, IHRB’s senior adviser — global issues, and the report’s co-author. Labour Secretary KM Abdus Salam shared different initiatives undertaken by the government, but said, “We also need to develop occupational health and safety culture which can create a brand image and goodwill.” BGMEA President Faruque Hassan and National Human Rights Commission Member Kamal Uddin Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.
