Bangladesh shuts down substandard garment factories

According to foreign media reports on the 27th, a garment factory building collapsed in Bangladesh two years ago, and the safety of the working environment in the country’s garment industry became the focus. In order to strengthen factory safety, the authorities have closed 220 substandard garment factories so far, but this has caused 150,000 workers to lose their jobs.
On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Savar Town, a suburb of Dhaka, collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly garment factory workers. After the tragedy, calls for Bangladeshi garment factories to improve working conditions increased, and international clothing brands and Western retail giants that placed orders for these factories also exerted heavy pressure.
The Bangladeshi government subsequently decided to conduct safety inspections on all 3,500 domestic garment factories, and has completed inspections on more than 2,000 of them so far.
According to a survey conducted by a German non-governmental organization in Bangladesh from April 2014 to March 2015, many garment factories failed to meet standards and were forced to close. Four times more garment factories closed this year than the previous year, and three times more workers lost their jobs.
The Bangladesh government pointed out that most of the closed factories actually belonged to subcontractors. Shipa, an official at the country’s Ministry of Labor and Employment, said: “It is true that many factories have been closed, but these are small factories, and they do not have direct buyers. At the same time, those who comply with safety regulations and have International Standards Organization quality systems Certified factories are expanding because of good business, just to absorb those workers who have lost their jobs.”