Im Stich gelassen
09.01.2021
Swiss Press Award 21 Online – E – Bangladesh: Abandoned
Im Stich gelassen
www.reflekt.ch
2021
Valentin Felber Anina Ritscher, Gülsha Adilji, Christian Zeier
Winner 2021
The Covid-19 crisis has revealed how much the South Asian country Bangladesh is dependent upon the global textile industry. In normal times 85 percent of all Bangladeshi exports go to this sector. When fashion retailers were forced to shut up shop in the spring, the big fashion chains stopped or cancelled their orders. According to a survey by the Bangladeshi Textile Export Association, the C&A group alone, which belongs to a holding company based in Zug, cancelled orders worth $166 million. Because companies were also not paid for goods they have already manufactured, they don’t have the money to pay their workers. In mid-April, thousands of seamstresses and seamsters take to the streets. It is not clear whether this failure to honour pre-existing contracts is legally justifiable. However, it is doubtful that the suppliers will take legal action, given their dependence on the large buyers. At least, when the media reported on the grievous situation, C&A announced it had reactivated 93 percent of the cancelled orders. Shortly thereafter, however, the Export Association came to the conclusion that the fashion company definitely intended to cut orders by 40 percent.