Job cuts not announced, only speculated based on turbulent situation: BGMEA

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association today said in a statement that the BGMEA president recently did not announce any job cut of garment workers, rather she expressed deep concerns and apprehension over possible job losses because of fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

BGMEA, as an organisation, has no scope for making such announcement of job cuts, the statement also read.

Expressing concern over the current turbulent inflow of work orders and shipment situation of the apparel items from the country due to the pandemic, BGMEA came up with the statement while protesting a press conference of 'Garment Sramik Odhikar Andolon' -- a platform for workers' rights -- held today.

The statement claimed that the news on BGMEA president's comments on possible job cuts were not presented correctly, as many thought that she announced termination of garment workers since factories are running at 55 percent capacity at present.

The BGMEA statement also said different important aspects of the sector -- apparel shipment, new job creation, inflow of work order, bankruptcy of major western retailers and brands and falling in capacity utilisation in the factories -- have been badly affected by the ongoing pandemic.

"Some 348 factories faced closure over the last two months while some 1,926 are in operations now," the statement also said. The factory managements will have to run their units at below capacity if the situation of work orders does not improve soon.

As a result, a pressure would be created in the job creation not only in the garment sector, but also in other sectors. The employment of the workers might be reduced a bit in such a situation, BGMEA said.

The association, however, suggested the factory owners to follow the labour law strictly in cases of termination of the workers.