1 million workers jobless due to cancelled orders

WASHINGTON – A survey of Bangladesh ready-made garment businesses has revealed the devastating impact of order cancellations by brands on suppliers and their workers. The survey found that, since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, more than half of Bangladesh suppliers have had the bulk of their in-process, or already completed production cancelled. 46 per cent of suppliers said ‘a lot’ to ‘most’ of their nearly completed or entirely completed orders have been cancelled by their buyers, while 6 per cent had all of these orders cancelled.

Researchers point out that buyers are making “dubious use of general force majeure clauses” to justify violations of the terms of contracts, despite the fact that “buyers have a contractual obligation to pay for these orders.”