PRESS RELEASE: CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST CHINA GROWS

11 OCTOBER 2005

PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE ITGLWF-AFRICA REGION

(IF FURTHER COMMENT IS REQUIRED, PLEASE CONTACT ITGLWF-AFRICA REGIONAL
SECRETARY, THABO TSHABALALA ON CELL NUMBER 083 640 8200)

OVER 250 000 JOBS LOST IN AFRICAN CLOTHING, TEXTILE AND LEATHER INDUSTRIES -
CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST CHINA GROWS

Trade union representatives from the clothing, textiles, footwear and
leather sector from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia,
Tanzania, Nigeria, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa met
in Cape Town on the 10th and 11th of October to discuss the effects of the
Multi-fibre Arrangement (MFA) phase out and its effect on the future of the
African textiles, clothing and leather industries.

The meeting was facilitated by the International Textile Garment & Leather
Workers’ Federation’s Africa Region (ITGLWF-Africa).

The representatives concluded that the African continent has lost more than
250 000 jobs over the past few years, resulting in more than a million
African family-members having lost the stable source of their livelihood.

They noted that cheap textiles and clothing imports from China have flooded
the domestic African markets, which has seriously injured the clothing,
textile and leather sectors in Africa, and resulted in loss of precious
productive capacity, factory closures and retrenchments.

The representatives called for coordinated action by African governments to
institute temporary safeguard measures against Chinese imports of textiles
and clothing, on the basis of China’s WTO Accession Protocol.

The meeting also resolved to call for Summit in Africa on the future of the
clothing, textile and footwear industries, with strong participation by
trade unions, investors and governments, in order to develop commitments for
a common action plan to grow the industry and the welfare of its workers.

A full declaration was signed at the conclusion of the meeting. This is set
out below:

Resolution of the participants of the Trade Union Conference on “The Future
of the African Textiles and Clothing Industries”,
Held in Cape Town on 10-11 October 2005

We, representatives of workers in the clothing, textiles, footwear and
leather industries of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia,
Nigeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
having met in Cape Town on 10 and 11 October 2005, at a trade union
conference on “The future of the African Clothing and Textiles Industries”:

Noting that:

There has been a significant change in the global textiles and clothing
sectors over the recent past, particularly since the beginning of 2005, due
to the expiry of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA), and the elimination of
quotas as set out in the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC);

The continent has lost more than 250 000 jobs over the past few years, with
large numbers of job losses in Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Nigeria,
Ghana, Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia and Kenya.
This means that more than a million African family-members have lost the
stable source of their livelihood;

Cheap textiles and clothing imports from China have flooded our domestic
markets, which has seriously injured our industries, resulted in loss of
productive capacity, factory closures and retrenchments;

Loss of export orders and the flood of imports from China have also led to
pressure on wages and working conditions of workers in textiles and clothing
companies. This pressure has led to an increase in underpayment of workers,
casualization and contract work in the industries in the region;

China’s Accession Protocol to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) provides
for safeguard measures to be taken by Governments in case of imports from
China in textiles and clothing that cause market disruption and/or injury to
the domestic market;

African countries are pressurised to reduce trade protection and support for
both infant and sensitive industries, though countries in the north and in
Asia have used trade policies as important complementary tools for
industrial development;

Governments compete for foreign direct investment through unsustainable and
socially-damaging policies such as relaxation of labour rights and offering
ever-increasing fiscal benefits, infrastructure and services; these packages
pit one African government against another in a bidding war to draw foreign
investors to their country with a net-benefit only to multinational
companies;

Foreign investors in some cases have left the country overnight, closing the
factories without offering any retrenchment benefits;

Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are increasingly created as a means to
attract new investment. These EPZs are often characterised by bad working
conditions, low wages, long working hours, forced overtime work and absence
of trade unions;

There is a lack of a common approach of the African governments with regard
to the issues of trade and investment in textiles and clothing. No
coordination among the governments takes place, and no common policies are
adopted towards investors and the attraction of investment;

The development of the industry under current trade preferences has failed
to significantly develop production along the value chain, by using cotton,
wool and other raw material production, through spinning, weaving, knitting
and design into finished goods production processes;

Trade issues are often seen as the preserve of Ministries of Trade, with
little stakeholder participation, and yet, trade agreements impact on
practically all aspects of development;

A strong dependence of our textiles and clothing industries has been
created, through the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), on the US
market and on preferential treatment, and to a lesser extent on the EU
market for some African countries through Cotonou, that utilization rates
have been rather low in the case of the EU Generalised System of Preferences
(GSP) due to strict rules of origin;

Globally, retailers procurement very often contribute to the erosion of
labour rights as they source from countries and companies with very poor
labour rights;

Buyers have substantial power to impact positively on the labour rights
violations of workers in foreign companies;

Trade preferences are likely to be eroded within a relatively short time
frame, due to negotiations on market access of non-agricultural products
(NAMA) in the WTO, including sectoral negotiations on textiles and clothing
with the aim to get zero tariffs in these sectors; And that there is no
systematic research and database on the impact of the removal of preferences
and trade agreements;

Global economic pressures require trade unions to cooperate more actively in
order to pursue the mandate of fair standards and decent work;

Cooperation of unions in the sector still needs to be strengthened to
achieve common positions and joint actions and campaigns;

The current trade in imported second-hand clothing has significant negative
effects on employment in the industry and is not the most effective way of
combating poverty.

Believing

The African clothing and textile industry can grow in output and employment
provided policies are developed to modernise the industry, strengthen the
skills of the workforce, develop capacities in product quality and
innovation.

Now Resolve:

To call on governments to put in place a comprehensive industrial and trade
policy approach aimed at coping with the impact of the Agreement on Textiles
and Clothing (ATC) in every country where the textile and clothing sector is
significant, with different and specific measures tailored to the situation
in each case and aimed at retaining and increasing employment in the sector;

To call upon governments to make better use of the inputs available on the
continent through strong beneficiation programmes and to develop a strategy
for restructuring of the industries through integration of a regional value
chain in textiles and clothing, by using the different strengths of the
different countries;

To call for coordinated action by African governments to institute temporary
safeguard measures against Chinese imports of textiles and clothing on the
basis of China’s Accession Protocol;

To address the need for training of workers to upgrade their skills and
increase productivity and to modernise the industry through improved
technology and methods that allow for innovation and efficiency;

To improve social dialogue on the future of the textiles and clothing
industries, between governments, businesses and organised labour at
national, regional and continental levels;

To ensure unions in the textile and clothing industry re-orient their
approach and build capacities in industrial and trade policy through
pro-active and innovative strategies;

To market the region as an ethical source of goods, requiring commitment
from business and governments to eliminate sweatshops, in order to capture a
share of the “Fair Trade” market;

To call on governments to promote decent work through an expansion in the
quantity (more jobs) and quality (better labour standards) of clothing and
textile employment on the continent and to work to eliminate casualisation,
job insecurity, underpayment of workers and other forms of poor labour
practices;

To gather information with regard to the impact of the ending of the MFA,
such as company closures, job losses, wages, working hours and violations of
labour legislation as well as on foreign investor profiles and incentives
Such information should be gathered by each trade union, and should be sent
to ITGLWF Africa Office, in order to create a database of information for
research and lobby work;

To call upon governments of the African Union to coordinate amongst them the
attraction of foreign investment, in order to avoid destructive competition
for investment among African countries, to avoid a race to the bottom in
terms of incentives offered to investors; to develop guidelines on
maximising the benefits of such investment (through measures such as
technology transfer agreements and training in high level skills) and to
ensure that domestic investors are not discriminated against in the
provision of incentives and facilities;

To call on SADC governments to fully implement the Charter of Fundamental
Social Rights and to ensure that effective enforcement and follow up
mechanisms are in place;

To call upon governments of the African Union to build a social floor in
Africa, including respect for and full implementation of core labour
standards in the continent and promotion of Decent Work;

To call upon governments of the African Union, in coordination with the
African Group in the WTO, to coordinate strategies on trade policies and
trade negotiations, in particular with regard to NAMA negotiations, opposing
the sectoral negotiations, and to prepare proposals that address the issue
of preference erosion in a satisfactory way. In addition, the need for
policy space has to be safeguarded and should not be undermined by
negotiations in the WTO;

To call on governments to ensure that measures are put in place to address
the negative impact of trade in imported second-hand clothing while at the
same time ensuring that our domestic industries are able to provide
affordable clothing to poor people;

To call on governments in the developed world to expand trade preferences
offered to African countries, including through improving the terms of
existing agreements and the rules of origin;

To ensure coordination among trade unions and information gathering on the
issue of smuggling of products and dumping, in order to reduce the impact of
these on the domestic market, and to ensure coordination among governments
of the African Union and the establishment of measures, and the building of
institutional capacity to eliminate all forms of illegal imports and
smuggling;

To promote an alternative development strategy such as the sustainable human
development approach adopted by the UNDP;

To lobby governments to support a Policy Coherence Initiative among
multilateral institutions, with strong ILO involvement, aimed at creating
and expanding decent work opportunities in the clothing and textile
industries on the African continent;

To undertake a major campaign to increase the rates of unionisation among
workers in the industry, to identify through a public list the names of
companies denying workers the right to join unions (including through a list
of the 10 worst employers on the continent) and to campaign in solidarity
against anti-union practices;

To campaign that multinational corporations and major global retailers
increase their sourcing from the African continent, support fair labour
standards, comply with all legal obligations and promote decent work;

To call for a Summit in Africa on the future of the clothing, textile and
footwear industries, with strong participation by trade unions, investors
and governments, in order to develop commitments for a common action plan to
grow the industry and the welfare of its workers.