Over 50 organizations from around the world are urging brands, governments, and employers to ensure the safety of workers employed in garment factories in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Unions representing Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi workers and international labor advocates have urged factory managers, national governments, and international apparel brands to:

Include garment industry in lockdowns to protect citizens from COVID-19 and prevent garment production under the pretext of continuing essential services; expand vaccination and testing of garment workers; implement the ILO Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) protection standards and Worker Rights Consortium guidelines for effective infection control in garment factories, with special attention to personal protective equipment (PPE), physical distancing, right of removal from danger and worker participation mechanisms, and adaptation of transport systems; ensure workers continue to receive their full wage in line with the demands of the Pay Your Workers campaign and allow workers to voluntarily refuse unsafe work and do not exclude those who stop working due to COVID-19 risks from unemployment, severance, or other economic rights and benefits during the crisis or penalize them with loss of contracts or work when the crisis subsides.