Paying the workers’ wages continues to be a major issue for the Bangladesh readymade garment industry, which is struggling with a multitude of problems in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to latest reports, as many as 71 readymade garment manufacturing units affiliated to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the apex garment makers’ body in the country, have failed to pay workers’ wage for May even if 1,855 member factories have been able to disburse May’s wages to their workers.
Most of the factories that could not pay workers in May are the smaller players, as per the traders’ body.
Further, around 348 of its 2,274 members have had to shut down operations unable to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the BGMEA underlined.
Even in April, some of the factories that are under the BGMEA reportedly failed to pay their workers.
Around 1,370 factories’ garment manufacturing units had applied for loans from the coronavirus bailout package, declared by the Government earlier to help the export-oriented industries pay their workers, but many have been found ineligible to avail the same, underlined a spokesperson of the traders’ body.