Textile Workers to Be Laid-Off

General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Mr. Abraham Koomson has hinted that more workers in the textiles industry are expected to be laid-off as a result of the non-performance of the sector.

"Anything can happen to even the 1,500 workers at any point in time. The industry is not performing so they may have to also go home," he said.

Mr. Koomson who was speaking to the Business Day Ghana in an interview noted that workers are being laid-off because of the pace of smuggling of cheap and fake prints from China which is collapsing the local industry.

"Many of these smugglers don't pay appropriate duties and taxes to the government. Whereas the manufacturers are paying VAT, health insurance and social security contribution of workers and corporate taxes, the smugglers don't pay anything," he observed.

Currently, the industry employs about 1,500 workers unlike in the 1970s, when the workforce was over 25,000. Employment figures reduced from a high of 25,000 in 1975 to 5,000 in the year 2000, before sliding further down to 3,000 in 2003 and 1,500 at close of 2016.

Similarly, the more than 130 million metres of fabric the industry produced annually has also been reduced drastically to less than 30 million. The production level was 130 million metres in 1975, 46 million metres in 1995, 65 million metres in 2000 and 39 million metres in 2003. Today, the production is below the 30 million metres mark.

Trade Ministry not budging

It is in this light that workers of the Textiles, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TGLEU) are set to picket at the forecourt of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) to draw the attention of government to the scary situation of joblessness.

About 50 workers are expected to participate in the picketing from 29th to 30th May, 2017 at 10:00am and 12:00pm respectively.

Having exhausted the process of engagements with MOTI and failed to have the Anti-Textile Piracy Task Force re-instated to check the high incidence of counterfeiting and smuggling of locally manufactured textile prints to avert the demise of the local industry.

The absence of printing orders from customers for production during festive periods, as the markets are always flooded with counterfeit textiles, raises serious concern for workers as they become redundant and cannot be retained by their employers.

Such situation has been the trend and resulted in the present dire state of the local industry which has caused massive job losses and continues to plague the industry.

Mr. Koomson, who is also the Chairman for TGLEU, emphasized the need for government to deal with the fundamental challenges confronting the industry to prevent the total collapse of the sector.

"There should be an end to the smuggling of cheap and fake prints from China which is collapsing the local industry. Government must clamp down on those who pirate local designs.

"The workers are additionally calling for the re-activation of the work of the anti-textiles piracy task force that was set up by the Trade Ministry in 2010 to deal with traders in counterfeit textiles as a way to keep the industry afloat," he lamented.

According to Mr. Koomson, these challenges must be fixed first before government considers investing more money in the textiles industry.

He believes government needs to focus on revamping existing industries instead of channeling resources into the building of new industries whose viability cannot be guaranteed.

"Government should plug the loopholes that are making the textile industry uncompetitive. That is the only way to keep us in business and help create more employment for the youth of this country," he told Business Day Ghana.

Meanwhile, Ebenezer Asumadu of the Concerned Textile Workers group has expressed worry that the activities of their employers such as the Ghana Textiles Manufacturing Company and Juapong Textiles will soon grind to a complete halt if nothing is done about the situation.

"Our union tells us that attention of the Ministry has been drawn to this development but no action has been taken as the distressed manufacturing industry grind to a halt, resulting in the loss of 20,000 jobs" in the last 41 years, he emphasized.

Although government has assured the workers it will not allow the textile industry to collapse as it considers it an important sector, Mr. Asumadu believes it is unwise to put money in the sector without first eradicating the issues of counterfeiting and smuggling, aside from the high cost of local products.

Another issue is that while locally produced cotton is used by firms, many of the dyes, chemicals and machines are imported from abroad at significant prices.

Workers fear

Located in Tema is GTP, which is renowned for its traditional designs and wax printed fabrics.

According to a December 2015 publication by the UK's Independent newspaper, GTP has seen production levels drop 30 per cent and its production unit has halved since 2015.

At the time of the publication, the company had 650 factory staff remaining. Among them was Isaac Eshun. For Mr. Eshun, the government must do more to protect the country's borders. 'I enjoy working here. I'm able to give my wife and children some clothes at Christmas but allowing the counterfeiters... will kill the jobs,' he told the Independent.

Also, the firm's managing director Kofi Boateng had admitted the impact of cheaper fake goods has been huge.

'We started to see that there were a lot of smuggled goods coming from the Far East copying our designs and being smuggled into the country. They don't only copy our designs, they copy the trademark and logo and label. Almost every design we make has been copied,' the Independent published.

What we know

Togo and Ivory Coast are often the entry point for smugglers, with some Ghanaian market traders even travelling to China to collect designs.

The borders are very porous with only a few of them manned by security people, making it very easy for these counterfeiters to pass through. They come in huge quantities, truck-full sometimes with some coming beneath cars and buses.

The Anti-Textile Piracy Task Force has seized more than 7,000 pieces since it started operating. When the traders hear the task-force coming, they run away and leave their wares because they know what they are doing is wrong.

However, various governments over the years have been criticized for allegedly confiscating non-pirated goods during raids.

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