Textile Jobs at Risk from Tariff Review

Trade unions are leading a campaign to save thousands of jobs in the textile, clothing and footwear industry that are under threat from tariff reduction. Over the next month or so, the Government will be making decisions on the future of these industries as it decides the level of tariff that will be applied to imported products after 2005.

The Clothing Workers Union, the National Distribution Union and the Council of Trade Unions are sending out 10,000 postcards which they are urging people to sign and send to the Prime Minister.

The cards call for the tariff freeze set in 2000 to continue, to both stabilise the industry and save jobs. Around 18,000 workers are employed in the textile, clothing and footwear industries ? less than half the number of 15 years ago.

"Every time tariff levels go down, imports increase, factories close and jobs are lost," Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

The Council of Trade Unions credits the Government for implementing the tariff freeze, and wants to see it extended to at least 2008, with the next review beginning in 2005.

One of the reports that the government is considering in its current review calls for the reduction of tariffs from 2006 to reach zero by 2012.

"This would mean more closures, more job losses and would undo all the good work that has been done to keep the industry viable. The government must reject this approach," Carol Beaumont said.

The CTU supports an economic development approach to the sector and has supported an industry development group of unions and employers, which the Government also helped establish.