South African clothing industry to target retailers
Cosatu (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) have submitted a section 77 note to the National and Economic Development and Labour Council to protest against job losses in the clothing, textile, footwear and leather industries.
The union wants to target clothing retailers, their financial backers and suppliers by organising protests to persuade the retail industry to use locally produced goods and stop outsourcing cheap products from countries such as
Etiene Volk, Sactwu’s spokesman, says an estimated 30,000 industry jobs have been lost since 2003 (and 80,000 since 1995) largely due to retailers’ pricing and sourcing policies, the strong rand and the government’s indifference. Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven says retailers and banks have boosted their profits through sales of sub-standard items of unknown origin, ignoring the textile industry’s impending crash.
Business Week has recently reported that clothing imports had increased from 11 million units in 2003 to 213 million units in 2004, reducing local employment from 150,000 to 125,000 workers in 18 months alone.
Mandisi Mpahlwa, Minister of Trade and Industry, speaking at a congress of Sactwu, said: “In looking forward, we have to bear this dynamic in mind – That China’s dominance in the clothing sector cannot be stopped, blocked or derailed. It is only a matter of time.”
