Although the garment industry is the major source of export earnings for Bangladesh, its workers are constantly living on the edge. Most of them are living a miserable life due to the minimum wage coupled with the difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The readymade garment (RMG) sector has been affected to a great extent in this critical time. The RMG workers are taking the heat of the harsh reality.
According to BGMEA, about 317 factories were shut down during the first wave of coronavirus as a result of which about 70,000 workers were laid off initially.
However, the union leaders claimed that more than two lakh RMG workers lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Ministry of Labour and Employment started providing protection allowances to the workers affected by the pandemic in December 2020 under the Social Protection Program for Unemployed and Distressed Workers in Export Oriented RMG, Leather Goods and Footwear Industries.
Abu Ashrif Mahmud, Director of the Department of Labour, told The Bangladesh Post that the ministry received a list of almost 20,000 workers but only 6,032 of them could be verified as the rest of the NID numbers were invalid. So far 6,032 workers have received the protection allowance of Tk 52,500,000 in three phases in the month of September, October and November of 2020. A list of 5,000 workers is pending which needs to be updated by the factory owners, BGMEA and BKMEA. As many workers were laid off initially, the factory owners are having a hard time to find information about them and the ministry is not being able to proceed without the updated information. The total amount of allocated money for this project is around 1,500 crores of which 50 crore has been allocated for 2020-2021 fiscal year. Due to lack of verified information about the unemployed workers, allowance of Tk 52,500,000 could be provided to the workers.
BGMEA Vice-President Md. Moshiul Azam told the Bangladesh Post that clothing orders worth 3.18 billion dollars were cancelled or suspended during the pandemic. Bangladesh lost 5.6 billion dollar worth of apparel in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. From March to December 2020, the export earning of garments plummeted by19.92%.
Regarding the recovery of garment sector, he said, the garment sector is unable to go back to normalcy, until the buyers of the apparel market of Bangladesh become active. The possibility of the apparel market being restored to its previous state is unlikely before next year.
Moshrefa Mishu, president of the Garments Sramik Oikya Forum (Garments Workers Unity Forum), said that the coronavirus has exacerbated the inhumane living condition of garment workers. Even before the virus hit the world many garments owners were reluctant to pay the minimum wage fixed by the government.
“The garment factory owners receive incentives from the government while the workers lead a difficult life,” she said.
Regarding the workers coming under the jurisdiction of insurance facility Moshrefa said, “Factory owners are procrastinating the insurance scheme and manipulating the workers. This is an issue that has been pending for a long time. The government should strictly instruct the factory owners to take full responsibility of the insurance.”
A garment worker from Tejgaon area said she has been working in a garment factory for seven years. She started working there with the monthly wage at Tk 5,500. After seven years she is earning only Tk 9,000 per month. Another worker said that she has been working at a garments factory for two years. After two years her salary increased by only Tk 600.
Readymade Garments (RMG) workers, with their nominal minimum wage, are finding it hard to keep pace with the inflation as it does not even cover the basic costs of living.