Our partners in Bangladesh have taken the first steps in reopening the factory, and COVID safety for workers is the priority.
After months of lockdown, with only a handful of volunteers making PPE and running a food ration programme to feed workers in the local community impacted by the pandemic, Oporajeo has taken the first tentative steps in re-opening their factory.
During Bangladesh’s lockdown period, No Sweat supported Oporajeo with their emergency response to the crisis by directing our Garment Worker Solidarity Fund toward their relief efforts. We have raised over £5,000 and Oporajeo has distributed tens of thousands of meals. While the hot food programme has been wound up, food parcels for families are still being provided and we are continuing to collect donations to support it. [Donate here]
When factories were allowed to reopen across Bangladesh, Oporajeo did not follow the actions of many factories and push to reach 100% capacity as soon as possible. Instead, they have only brought back 70% of their workforce, the others remain on furlough with a full wage paid by the company. This allows for adequate social distancing on the factory floor. The sewing machines have been rearranged to be 2.5 meters apart and at the end of the day the factory undergoes a deep clean. Mask wearing in the building is compulsory, and visitors from outside of the workforce are not allowed into the building until the pandemic is over.
A key safety measure is a new three stage process for workers entering the factory:
- First workers pass through a disinfectant spray booth near the main gate of the factory .
- Next they stop at a hand sanitiser station to ensure their hands are completely clean.
- And finally they have their temperature checked to ensure no one has a fever. (Anyone with a temperature over 99° F is sent home on full pay until they are recovered and If anyone needs medical support then Oporajeo covers the cost.)
With these safety measures in place, Oporajeo is doing everything it can to ensure the health and safety of the workers and is setting an example to the garment industry and beyond.
Unfortunately many garment factories in Bangladesh and around the world are not following a similar safety process, and the big brands they are supplying are often doing little to help ensure the safety of the workers that make their clothes. Just this week, the campaigning charity, Labour Behind the Label, released a report highlighting the lack of safety measures for garment workers in the UK making clothes for online retail giant Boohoo. The report details how workers were forced to work through the UK lockdown, without decent safety measures, to keep up with the production demands made by Boohoo. While other fashion brands were loosing money during the highpoint of the public health crisis, Boohoo made a profit – at the expense of workers health.
Leicester, one of the only remaining cities in the UK with a large garment sector, has been forced to go back into lockdown as coronavirus cases spike and the evidence suggests that the actions taken by garment factories, trying to meet the demands of retailers like Boohoo, have contributed to that significantly.
Read more in a recent Guardian article, and read Labour Behind the Label’s full report.