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Article

24 Apr 2020

Author:
James North, The Nation (USA)

Interview: Kalpona Akter describes impact on Bangladeshi garment workers, as intl. brands cancel billions of dollars in orders

“Coronavirus at the bottom of the supply chain”, 23 April 2020

[Amid COVID-19], the…drop in demand from the richer nations is already harming the economies of countries in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia that depend on exports. Kalpona Akter [is the]…executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity.

[Kalpona Akter]: Once the coronavirus crisis hit, the international brands that import from Bangladesh cancelled their orders, even for clothing that was already sewn. Local factory owners…can’t pay their workers. [S]omewhere around 70 percent of our workers have not been paid yet. brands cancelled…, nearly $3 billion. We in the union movement started to name and shame them globally. So some of them did say they would at least pay for the clothing that our workers had already finished.

[James North]: But despite these risks, you in the union movement still called for the garment factories to close?

[Kalpona Akter]: Absolutely. Thousands of people are working together in the same building. And Bangladesh has a shortage of medical facilities, which makes our country one of the most vulnerable. So that’s why we called for the factories to be locked down…

[James North]: People…who learn about how the global brands and local owners mistreat Bangladeshi workers may decide that they should stop buying anything with the “Made in Bangladesh” label. What do you say…?

[Kalpona Akter]: Not buying our clothing is not the solution. That will mean we won’t have jobs. We need these 4 million jobs. But we also need the big brands to be accountable, to pay enough to ensure the workers get a living wage, to make sure the factories are safer…, and to give workers a chance to…practice their union rights.

[Follow the links for the full interview]