Industry leaders are urging brands and retailers to be more compassionate towards garment workers as leading European nations re-enter lockdown against a second wave of the pandemic. Christie Miedema, Campaign and Outreach Coordinator, Clean Clothes Campaign, has urged apparel brands to ensure full wages for all their supply chain workers irrespective of order placements.

Mark Anner, Director, Center for Global Workers' Rights (CGWR), has urged brands and retailers to step up and support wage assurance campaigns. He urged governments and organizations, to step up their financial support for social protection. As per a survey by the Power and Participation Research Center and The Brac Institute for Governance and Development, over 60 per cent of poor and low-income people in Bangladesh received no support, from either the public or private sectors, to help them cope with the economic impact of the pandemic.

And the 39 per cent of households which did receive support between April and June, received only the equivalent of four per cent of their lost income. The survey of 7,638 households was carried out between June 20 and July 2, 2020.