Workers report further worsening of conditions as short-staffed factories try to recover orders lost early in the pandemic
Even before COVID-19 struck, the women stitching clothes at
Today, pay cuts and forced overtime have become common in short-staffed factories abandoned by hundreds of former employees - some too scared of catching the coronavirus to return, several workers told the
Tigist, a 20-year-old seamstress, said some of her colleagues had not come back to Hawassa after they were furloughed in the early months of the pandemic, as the global garment industry was hammered by cancelled orders.
In recent months, bosses eager to recover lost business have been forcing the remaining workers to pick up the slack, Tigist - whose name has been changed to protect her identity - and other workers said.
"We had to work (more) to fill in the gap," Tigist said in the tiny, bare room she rents with another worker for
"We fear catching the virus too but we must continue because we don't have any other option," she said, adding that she had to work to avoid being a "burden" to her poor family who live in a southern village.
Since coming back from furlough, she said she has been working an extra six hours per week - work for which she has not been paid, instead being given occasional
At least five other women reported similar experiences since factories reopened.
They said they worked for manufacturers including
A manager at
"Our companies are running their business respecting the law of the country," Ketema said in a text message.
LOWEST PAID
More than a dozen industrial parks were built in
The Hawassa industrial park, which lies some 275 km (170 miles) south of the capital,
Most factories at the park are now running at pre-pandemic capacity again.
Crowds of women - many not wearing facemasks - could be seen walking arm-in-arm out of the park at the end of their shift one day last month.
Some were new recruits, recently hired to replace those who did not come back from furlough - some fearing the virus, others deterred by the harsh working conditions.
Campaigners have denounced slavery-like conditions and low wages in parks where garment workers, mostly women, are the lowest paid in the world, according to a 2019 report by the
"The fact that these workers are being paid such miserable wages ... really enhances their vulnerability to hunger, to other forms of labour abuses," said
BASIC NEEDS
Workers who were in Hawassa when the coronavirus crisis began said they have been struggling to meet their basic needs for most of the year - despite government measures aimed at protecting them.
Hundreds of workers employed in Hawassa in
Workers interviewed by the
Tigist said she received
Others, like Birtukan, 24, told of having their wages docked since they returned from a 21-day layoff.
She said her employer had deducted a monthly food allowance from pay packets - equivalent to a 20% pay cut. They also decreased the incentive pay that workers earned when they hit the target output.
When she and colleagues complained, managers told them they could leave if they were unsatisfied - a common practice to discourage workers from complaining.
"We were told that we should be patient," Birtukan, whose name has also been changed to protect her identity, said as she breastfed her baby.
Campaigners and unionists said establishing a statutory minimum wage would help protect workers from such abuses, though the government's reluctance and COVID-19 have halted the process.
The pandemic has also made it more urgent to establish trade unions, which are long overdue in Hawassa and other industrial parks, according to campaigners.
"The more workers are organized, the more chances they can get to solve problems that arose because of the pandemic," said
Yet for some garment workers such as Birtukan, the possibility of quick improvements appear slim for as long as the pandemic drags on.
"I'm not sure when it will be back to normal," she said. "If the pandemic persists and the company doesn't get profit, what do you expect?"
Copyright Thomson Reuters Foundation. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source