SOUTH AFRICA: Textile and garment workers strong-arm retailers

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 15 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - South African textile and garment workers have turned up the pressure on major clothing retailers to sign an agreement committing them to buy at least 75 percent of their stock from local manufacturers.

Earlier this week the Save Jobs Campaign, led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the South African Council of Churches and various NGOs, handed over a memorandum to Truworths and Woolworths - two of the country's leading fashion retailers - saying that clothing imports had seriously undercut local manufactures, resulting in hundreds of job losses.

Unionists have maintained that while free trade based on fair competition was welcomed, competing with countries that did not respect basic labour rights was unfair.

Major retailing companies, such as Woolworths, Truworths, Edgars and Foschini, were called upon to sign a code at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) that would commit them to 75 percent local procurement and boycotting "sweatshop-produced goods".

According to the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU), in 2004 an estimated R2.7 billion (US $428) was spent on clothing from China, representing 75 percent of imports.

"Our analysis shows that within the first three month of 2005, 4,000 jobs have been lost in the textile industry. We are currently in negotiations with two other factories in Cape Town and Durban, which are also on the brink of closing down." SACTWU deputy general secretary Andre Kriel said on Friday.

"The worrying aspect is that most of the garment workers are paid, on average, R222 ($35) per month, and in some places even less; they have no benefits to support them if they lose their jobs," he added.

Labour unions have urged the government to implement safeguards to defend the clothing and textile industry from unfair competition, and mobilise other developing nations in the World Trade Organisation to demand fairer trade policies.

"The government needs to immediately put in place a number of measures to arrest this job-shedding crisis in the textile industry. Although the decision by the Reserve Bank yesterday [Thursday] to cut interest rates should weaken the Rand, and possibly save jobs in the export industry, much more needs to be done," COSATU's acting spokesman, Patrick Craven, told IRIN.

Government has recently come under fire from all sections of the clothing and textile industry, which has been badly mauled by cheap imports and a strong Rand.

The Department of Trade and Industry last month issued a firm denial that it was indifferent to the plight of the sector, while chiding it to become more competitive.

Retailers have said they would not be able to sign an agreement that bound them to sourcing at least 75 percent of their stock from local suppliers, because such an arrangement would contravene the Competition Act.

South Africa's daily Business Day newspaper quoted retailers as saying that the problems faced by the local industry could not be solved with a "quota" system and regulations that went against free trade.

Retailers claimed their local content ranged between 70 and 80 percent, and no local suppliers had been dropped, but Kriel said he doubted these numbers.

"None of the retailers were willing to divulge exact figures and, therefore, there isn't any empirical evidence to support their claims," he commented.

[ENDS]