Since the collapse of Rana Plaza building in April last year, a total of 174 readymade garment factories had been closed down due to lack of orders and non-compliance with the rules.
Of the total, 30% factories were subcontractors, according to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
At least 95,000 workers, mostly women, were thrown out of work following the closure of the garment factories. Of the total, around 15% had been able to manage jobs and the rest had to go back home, BGMEA data shows.
“After the Rana Plaza incident, the buyers are not placing orders for any unauthorised or shared buildings. It is very difficult for us to run our business due to lack of orders and hike of wages,” said Md Iqbal Hossain, the owner of Tiboly Apparels.
Sears K Mart, a buyer, fined him $10,000 for making products at an unauthorised building, he said, adding that buyers do not want to place orders for shared factory buildings situated in residential areas.
“I have decided to close my factory taking the workers’ safety into account as the building is in poor state. Also, there is a chemical warehouse on the ground floor,” said another factory owner Khandaker Maqsudur Rahman Shamim.
“I want to downsize the business as the buyers are not putting orders for shared buildings,” he said, adding that he had planned to relocate his factory, but could not for lack of gas and electricity.
He urged the government to provide gas and electricity to those owners who want to immediately relocate their factories.
“The banks stopped opening letter of credits (LCs) and the authority disconnected the factory for non-payment of bills. I failed to bear the expenses of production due to lack of orders from the buyers,” Rajab Ali Hashmi, the managing director of Fair Knitting, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Siddiqul, a worker of Topaz Garment who lost his job due to factory closure, said, “It is very tough for me to manage a job as the factory owners are not appointing workers rather they are sacking.”
He added: “Either I have to leave Dhaka or find another profession.”
“The banks stopped opening letter of credits (LCs) and the authority disconnected the factory for non-payment of bills.“
“We contacted the management of three factories for jobs, but we did not get any positive response. So, we decided to leave Dhaka,” Jharna, a worker of Tongi-based Roxana Knit Composite, told the Dhaka Tribune. Most of her colleagues had to face the same problems, she added.
“A group of factory owners closed their factories over the safety issues placed by Accord and Alliance while others had to shut due to lack of orders,” BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune.
He urged the government to provide gas and electricity to the factories whose owners want to relocate them.
The issues of fire and building safety came under the spotlight last year following the collapse of Rana Plaza building that killed over 1,135 workers.
Following the factory disaster, the retailers’ platform made a commitment to provide financial and technical support to RMG factories to help improve the fire and building safety standards.
On February 20, the Accord, a platform of 150 European retailers, launched the first phase of inspection and inspected over 225 factories for fire safety and over 180 factories were inspected for structural safety.
The Alliance for Workers Safety in Bangladesh had inspected 474 factories, of which four factories faced the music for non-compliance with the conditions set by buyers.