Ashulia (Bangladesh) (AFP)

Overnight, Parvin, who worked hard to make clothes for major western brands, found himself among the hundreds of thousands of textile workers in Bangladesh who were laid off by the coronavirus pandemic.

Forced to close their stores around the world to comply with containment measures, the major ready-to-wear brands have canceled orders for billions of dollars for orders placed in Bangladesh, one of the world's clothing centers.

With the cascading closure of factories, many Bangladeshi workers find themselves on the floor and their bosses fear bankruptcy.

"The situation is apocalyptic," says Asif Ibrahim, a factory owner and director of the Bangladesh Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

The textile industry is vital to the economy of this South Asian country and is one of the main engines of its economic boom over the past two decades. Clothing accounts for 80% of national exports and provides employment for more than four million people, mainly women from poor villages in rural areas.

28-year-old seamstress Parvin waited with thousands of colleagues in a long line, respecting a meter gap between each person, to collect his March salary at the Al Muslim factory, one of the largest in the country and which provides some of the most prestigious brands of ready-to-wear.

Then the factory closed, until an unspecified date.

"We do not know when it will reopen," worries Parvin, who has no other source of income and describes his financial situation as a "disaster": "many factories have already closed. My husband is unemployed" .

Since the Covid-19 pandemic forced western countries to confine themselves, the major ready-to-wear brands have canceled or delayed for at least $ 3.1 billion in orders from Bangladeshi manufacturers, according to the BGMEA.

In recent times, thousands of workers - some of whom earn as little as $ 100 a month - have demonstrated in various parts of this country of 160 million people to demand payment of wages owed to them.

"Many of us don't have food at home right now. We can't even beg on the street because the poorest of us would make fun of us, since we have jobs," said Didarul Islam, who works on sewing machines.

"What should we do? Starve to death?" Added the 38-year-old worker, father of two.

- Machines stopped -

BGMEA and its Chinese, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Cambodian and Burmese equivalents have advocated with ready-to-wear brands so that they do not cancel their orders.

"It is time for global companies to maintain and honor their commitment to labor rights, social responsibility and sustainable supply chains," the organizations said in a joint statement.

Some large companies, including H&M and Inditex - the parent company of the Zara chain - have promised in response not to cancel orders already placed. Others have requested reductions, according to the BGMEA.

But no promise has been made for the future.

The situation is already terrible in Ashulia, an industrial center on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. Nearly 600 factories are located in this city where workers live in concrete slums near their place of work.

Owner of a factory employing 250 people, Rubel Ahmed says he has already lost 50% of his business.

Chaining cigarettes in front of the machines at the stop of his factory, he describes this pandemic as "a hundred times worse" than the drama of the Rana Plaza in 2013. The collapse of a building housing a clothing workshop had then left 1,130 dead and highlighted the sometimes deplorable working conditions of the country's textile workers.

"Those who have small factories like me are going to be sprayed," he says.

Textile workers' advocacy groups are calling on industry players to demonstrate social responsibility.

"When this crisis is over, people will remember which brands were on hand to protect their workers and employees, and which were absent subscribers," warns Dominique Muller of Labor Behind the Label, a British human rights NGO. textile workers.

© 2020 AFP