Bangladesh to take legal action against garment factory owners

BANGLADESH is likely to take legal action against factory owners who do not pay their staff during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Reports say that tens of thousands of garment workers in the country are struggling after factories shut without paying March wages.

Labour ministry official Shibnath Roy said businesses that did not pay staff would not receive any money from a $588 million rescue package that Bangladesh announced last month for its crucial export sector.

Workers have taken to the streets to demand salary, defying a mass lockdown that has seen thousands of factories shut as orders from Western retailers dry up.

Bangladesh government has said at least 350 factory owners have not yet paid March wages, with more than 150,000 workers affected.

But, labour leaders said that the number is much higher.

The head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Rubana Huq said 98 of the 2,274 factories it represents had yet to pay workers.

Millions of households in Bangladesh depend upon the garment sector, which has been hit hard by the cancellation of more than $3 billion-worth of orders as shops around the world shut down.

The industry accounts for more than 80 per cent of Bangladesh's exports and employs about four million people, mostly women.

"Our workers have worked throughout March, so there's no reason why they shouldn't be paid," said Nazma Akter head of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation.