1. BGMEA UNIVERSITY OF FASHION AND TECHNOLOGY
Course Title : Industrial Psychology
Course Code : PSY-3101
Batch : 192 –AMT
Section : 1
Assignment Topic : Worker Termination in RMG sector after starting corona virus .
Submitted By, Submitted To,
Name -[Group 13] ID
Md Abdur Rakib
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Social
Sciences, BUFT
Md.Mosaddikul Haque
Utsho
192-009-101
Afsana Mimi 192-016-101
Zakaria Siam 192-038-101

2. Introduction
The ready-made garment (RMG) industry is a mainstay of this economic success story:
Bangladesh is today one of the world’s largest garment exporters, with the RMG sector
accounting for 84 percent of Bangladesh’s exports. This comes on the back of the sector’s rapid
growth and modernization over the past decade—as well as the strides it has made in improving
conditions for the country’s approximately four million garment workers. [Harsh Chaparia.
2018] The ready-made garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has got a greater facet than any
other sector in terms of growth and foreign exchange earnings. It makes a significant
contribution to the national economy by creating generous employment opportunities and
reducing poverty through socioeconomic development. Despite unquestionable success story,
this sector has got a number of formidable challenges for the future growth.[ Islam MS, Abdur
Rakib , Adnan ,2015] About 30 million people of Bangladesh are engaged with the RMG sector
directly or indirectly. This sector helps in creating employment, reducing poverty and
empowering rural women. Though the primary stage of the sector was not bright enough,
nowadays it is flourishing very rapidly [Md. Sahid Hossain, 2019] . The industry that has been
making crucial contribution to rebuilding the country and its economy is none other than the
readymade garment (RMG) industry which is now the single biggest export earner for
Bangladesh. The sector accounts for 83% of total export earnings of the country. The RMG
industry of Bangladesh has been unprecedentedly disrupted by the Covid-19, and the recovery
process is quite challenging for the industry since the crisis persists. The first wave of the
pandemic swamped the industry through the cancellation of orders, deferred payments/discounts
by buyers, cash crunch hitting the backbone of the industry to maintain regular operations of the
industry. [ Rubana Haq, 2021].
A good number of garment workers are being terminated from their jobs as the factories are
running at 55 percent capacity at present, owing to the fallout from Covid-19 pandemic. [ The
Daily Star ] . Many factories are facing either closure or termination of a massive number of
workers as the international retailers and brands have already cancelled work orders worth $3.15
billion. About 90 percent factories have experienced the work order cancellation and buyers of
only 26 percent of the cancelled orders confirmed taking back the goods and specified the
payment terms for renegotiation with them. At least one-quarter of garment workers in
Bangladesh — the world's second-largest clothing manufacturer, after China — have been fired
or furloughed because of declining global orders amid the coronavirus crisis. [ NPR, 2020] Job
cuts have started hitting workers since March after the government announced a nationwide
shutdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. After remaining shut for nearly two months,
hundreds of factories in industrial zones

3. Objectives
 Impact of Covid 19 in RMG sector in Bangladesh
 Worker Termination of workers during covid 19 in garments industry
 Covid-19, Job Cuts and misery for Bangladeshi garments worker
 Workers facing Problems due to massive termination
 The problems faced by RMG industry due to massive worker termination;
 How to overcome the situation and move forward
Literature Review
Jakir Hossain, Afroza Akter ,2021 stated that the extensive cancellation or suspension of orders
by international buyers and brands has pushed millions of garment workers many of whom are
women into dire financial situations. The unforeseen crisis of Covid, and the subsequent
reactions by international buyers, led to factory closures, lay-offs, workers’ termination, and
delays in wage payment. Covid-19 adopted has a differential effect on workers of all workers.
Jafar Iqbal ,2021 stated that Workers are feeling the brunt of the failure of global apparel supply
chains during the pandemic due to factories stopping production, lack of payment for hours
worked, the government shutdown period, forced furlough, and improper termination processes.
Estimates range dramatically, but between one and four million Bangladeshi garment sector
workers have had their employment directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and up to 10
million people including workers themselves and their families, are affected by canceled
contracts, unpaid orders, and factory closures.
Stephan Uttam,2021, stated that Job cuts have started hitting workers since March,2019 after the
government announced a nationwide shutdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. After
remaining shut for nearly two months, hundreds of factories in industrial zones started reopening
from April 26. Factories have terminated workers because of loss of production and business.
Many factories are still counting losses, making it impossible for them to keep a regular
workforce. Once the factories get regular orders and have good business, workers will be rehired
and former workers will get preference.
Gazi Hossain ,2021 stated that it is regretted that workers have been dismissed without
compensation despite owners having a stimulus package.It has thrown them into destitution and
they have not been rehired even though the industry has bounced back. Without job security,
workers suffer and in the long run it won’t do any good for the industry,

4. Methodology
The study has made on descriptive research, is conducted to identify different dimension of
challenges in readymade garment industry in Bangladesh. To come up with the result,
researchers were not required to visit the factory. For this reason, researchers have ignored the
direct data collection and surveys. Consequently, the research technique has relied based on
information from secondary sources. Those data collected through Journals, Research articles,
Thesis papers, newspapers case studies, online news paper and survey reports, garments
Manufacturing Industries Annual reports, BGMEA Yearly report and Files. The data was
collected basically through skimming ad scanning out the findings of different secondary source.
After the completion of the data collection descriptive analyses was used illustrate the data. This
study did not use any unethical means to collect information.
Result and Discussion
This whole discussion is divided by 3 stages .
I. 2018-19 ( before the year of covid-19)
II. 2019-20 ( during the 1st
outbreak of covid-19)
III. 2020-21 ( during the 2nd
outbreak of covid-19)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
total number of garments worker in
million
Series 3
Series 2
Series 1

5. There are about 4500 garment factories in Bangladesh . and more than 4 million workers work
there. But the global pandemic changes the approximate number of total garments worker a lot.
In the year 2018-19 there are 4.5 million garments workers in Bangladesh . But after the starting
of corona pandemic things change a lot. It causes less number of garments workers in the last 3-
5 years . In the year 2019-20 there are 3.6 million running garments workers working in
Bangladesh . The very next year. situation improved a little so the number increased to 4.2
million.
The global pandemic has a enormous bad effect on RMG industry. Before the pandemic year
2018-19, due to wage & financial problem , about 5000 workers have been terminated . But after
the starting of 1st
covid-19 outbreak , the situation is out of control. Order cancellation from
buyers is a major problem . Due to order cancellation lot of garments workers had to lose their
jobs. More than 70,000 workers have been terminated during the 1st
outbreak. After 1st
outbreak
situation gets better day by day. Still many factories can not run smoothly just like before. Due
to this problem again 11,400 workers have been terminated in the year 2020-21.
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021
Number of workers terminated by year

6. Comparison to other years in the year 2018-19 the termination rate was 2 % . But during the
covid-19 period , in the year 2019-20 the termination rate was 16% . This was a disaster for
RMG industry. Later on the year of 2020-21 it improves to 5%.
In the RMG industry female workers are 1.5 times more than male workers. So thus the impact
of covid 19 effect more on female workers. The ratio of female workers termination was 59%
and for the male workers it was 41% .
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
Worker termination rate
Column1
Series 1
Male Workers
41%
Female workers
59%
worker termination rate by gender

7. Conclusion
RMG industry is the major economic earning source of Bangladesh where the workers play the vital role .
The more quality workers we have the more quality & quantity production we will get. But sometimes the
situation is not in our hand. Covid-19 is such an global pandemic which changes the world economy . The
worst effect of covid 19 has grabbed the RMG industry of Bangladesh. Due to survive the garment
factories have to terminate a lot of workers .Almost 1 million workers have been terminated during
covid 19 period. It causes a great loss to national economy. The industry is improving day by day but still
the effect of covid 19 does not vanish totally . Infact recently thr covid 19 starts to outbreak again. The
industry is now in concerned situation again. But they try to not to terminate the workers like they did it
before .
References
Salauddin,2021 . bangladesh-garment-workers-lose-jobs-and-face-repression . https://www.industriall-
union.org/over-11600-bangladesh-garment-workers-lose-jobs-and-face-repression
The Daily Star, 2021. Stop terminating garment workers amid pandemic: Labour ministry tells owners.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/stop-terminating-garment-workers-amid-pandemic-labour-
ministry-tells-owners-1918817
Dev Lesser, 2021. Garments worker Diaries . https://workerdiaries.org/#container-garment-post
Stephan Uttam, 2021. Covid-19, job cuts and misery for Bangladesh's garment workers .
https://www.ucanews.com/news/covid-19-job-cuts-and-misery-for-bangladeshs-garment-workers/89805#
Jafar IQbal, Hansen , 2021. Ripped at the Seams: RMG Sector Workers During a Global Pandemic.
https://slavefreetoday.org/journal_of_modern_slavery/v6i2a04_RippedattheSeamsRMGSectorWorkersDu
ringaGlobalPandemic.pdf
Maheen Sultan, 2021. COVID-19 Crisis Implications for the RMG Sector: Trade Union Responses.
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the-RMG-Sector-Trade-Union-Responses.pdf
ILO, 2021. Recommendations for garment manufacturers on how to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-
bangkok/documents/briefingnote/wcms_741642.pdf
Business & Human Rights resource center ,2021. Bangladesh: Survey of garment factories reveals a
million workers fired or temporarily suspended without pay or severance, as retailers cancel orders &
refuse to pay for goods produced amid pandemic. https://www.business-humanrights.org/it/ultime-
notizie/bangladesh-survey-of-garment-factories-reveals-a-million-workers-fired-or-temporarily-

8. suspended-without-pay-or-severance-as-retailers-cancel-orders-refuse-to-pay-for-goods-produced-amid-
pandemic/
The daily Star , 2022. Women garment workers on the decline.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/women-garment-workers-the-decline-2011601