After Tazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza, Covid-19 once again exposes the human cost of fast fashion On 11 March 2021 it will be one year since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. And while almost every sector in every country on the planet has been adversely affected, few have seen a more dramatic collapse in demand than the garment, textile and apparel industry. Billions of dollars’ worth of orders were cancelled by fashion brands, leaving suppliers across the Global South without an income and some of the poorest workers in global supply chains without jobs, wages or financial support.
In Bangladesh, the world’s second largest exporter of ready-made garments (RMG), the impact has been devastating. In a country where 84 per cent of total exports come from the sector, an estimated 357,000 jobs were lost between January and September 2020, about 14 per cent of the sector’s total, after brands cancelled over US$3 billion worth of orders. According to the Workers’ Rights Consortium’s Covid-19 Tracker, brands such as Topshop, Hema and TJ Maxx are among those yet to make a commitment to pay in full for completed orders or those in production.
The overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi garment workers who lost their jobs were not paid their outstanding wages nor any severance pay, despite the US$590 million stimulus package rolled out in March 2020 to prevent the complete collapse of the sector. Even those who have managed to keep their jobs have faced reduced hours and reduced pay, often working in factories where social distancing is impossible and personal protective equipment is not provided. The resulting poverty has led many to remark that workers are more afraid of dying of hunger than they are of dying from a respiratory disease.
Most garment workers in Bangladesh are women, many of whom come from villages far away from the capital city of Dhaka. They are underpaid, overworked and financially responsible for family members both back home and in the city. Many of them were part of the exodus of ten million workers who braved crowded buses, ferries and trains to return to their home villages last year after losing their jobs due to the pandemic. Others have remained in the cities where they have struggled to eke out a living. This photo essay by Bangladeshi photojournalist Zakir Hussain Chowdhury tells the story of those who chose to remain in Dhaka during one of the worst crises in the country’s history. All photographs were taken over a few days in late December 2020.
Bangladesh’s garment factories have been the site of some of the worst industrial disasters in modern history. On 24 November 2012, at least 117 workers died when a fire broke out at the Tazreen Fashions garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. The high death toll was a result of the locked exits and barred windows.
Then, on 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka collapsed, killing some 1,134 people and leaving thousands more injured. As one of the deadliest factory accidents on record, it alerted the world to the appalling working conditions faced by Bangladesh’s garment workers and resulted in a number of significant safety improvements.
But as the pandemic demonstrates, garment workers still live incredibly difficult lives. Silpi was working at Tazreen Fashions when the fire broke out. After jumping from the upper floor, she broke her back and injured her head. Now that she has lost her garment job due to the coronavirus, she sells homemade cakes on the street. Silpi still takes daily medication for the injuries she sustained back in 2012. “Sometimes I get headaches. They feel like someone is trying to crack my head with a hammer. The pain is unbearable. After taking some medicine, all I want to do is sleep but I have to spend a lot of money for these medicines. When I can’t afford to buy them, and when nobody buys my cakes, I beg on the street.” She says the coronavirus crisis has left her “completely helpless”.
A July 2020 study explored the health and economic impact that Covid-19 has had on Bangladesh’s garments workers. It revealed that many workers are struggling to deal with the anxiety caused by not knowing whether they will catch the virus, how they will pay for rent, food and school fees, and if they will ever return to their old factory jobs. Yesmin is a mother-of-three who is deeply worried for her family’s future. “I have not got a job until now, but my husband managed to get work two months after he lost his job. We have to survive on one salary.” She says it is not enough.
Yesmin earned a basic salary of 7,000 BDT a month (US$82.35) but with overtime she was able to increase her take-home pay to BDT 9,781 (approximately US$117). The legal minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh is officially 8,000 BDT (approximately US$96), which is almost half of what should constitute a living wage (16,000 taka), but many factory owners break the law and pay their workers less.
Many garment workers have been surviving on the aid provided by different benefactors, including trade unions, NGOs and donor agencies. They mainly receive staples like rice, potatoes, cooking oil, onions and pulses. Soon they will receive financial assistance; in December, the European Union and Germany pledged to contribute more than €113 million to a welfare fund for unemployed and impoverished garment workers. It is not yet known when the scheme will begin but those eligible will receive monthly cash aid of 3,000 BDT (US$35.30) for three months.
Kamrul Hasan, general-secretary of the Akota Garments Workers Federation, which is one of the trade unions that has been providing aid to garment workers left without an income, says: “Garment workers have suffered a lot. The government helped the garment factory owners but the factory owners did not help the workers. Many factories have used the layoff system forcefully, others refused to pay wages. We have been trying hard to give aid to every person who lost their job during the pandemic. We give them things like food, masks and hand sanitisers – but it is not enough.”
Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist 
