Forced overtime and pay cuts have become common feature in many Ethiopian short-staffed factories, says the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Foundation states, in recent months, bosses eager to recover lost business have been forcing remaining workers to pick up the slack. These workers primarily worked for manufacturers including KGG Garments PLC and Indochine Apparel PLC, which supply big brands such as The Children's Place and Levi Strauss & Co. More than a dozen industrial parks were built in Ethiopia in recent years as part of ambitious plans to turn the poor, mainly agrarian nation into a manufacturing powerhouse, attracting investors with tax breaks, cheap loans and labour costs.

The Hawassa industrial park was inaugurated in 2016 and employed about 28,000 workers before the outbreak. Workers in this park said they have been struggling to meet their basic needs for most of the year — despite government measures aimed at protecting them.

Ethiopia declared a five-month state of emergency in April to fight the coronavirus and mitigate its affect, prohibiting companies including clothing factories from laying off workers despite significant sales and order reductions. Hundreds of workers employed in Hawassa in January kujbgvvbbgg2020 were furloughed or terminated during the pandemic, according to a phone survey of 3,896 female garment workers which was conducted between April 28 and July 1.

Workers interviewed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation said they were furloughed on reduced pay, forcing some to skip meals or take on loans to buy food. Most live in slums near the park, sharing small rooms often without access to safe water.

Campaigners and unionists like Industrial Federation of Ethiopian Textile, Leather and Garment Worker Trade Unions have advocated the establishing of a statutory minimum wage to protect workers from such abuses, though the government's reluctance and COVID-19 have halted the process.