Our jobs are under threat - Coalition of Textile Workers cry out

The Coalition of Textile Workers Ghana has for the umpteenth time raise concerns over the job security of its members following what it describes as the ‘escalation of illegal activities in textiles trading in the country.”

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Coalition said it had observed with utter disappointment “the unbridled dumping of Pirated fabrics in the Ghanaian markets, thus rendering its local products noncompetitive and unmarketable, thereby threatening workers employment”.

According to the leadership of the Coalition, government has in the last couple of months introduced measures aimed at addressing the challenges facing the sector industry, however, the implementation of the measures has not been as rapid as they would have liked.

It would be recalled that in February this year, His Excellency the President in the State of the Nation Address in Parliament stressed on the need for the Textiles Industry in Ghana to be revived and therefore confirmed specific policy being implemented to deal with the situation.

In that State of the Nation Address, the President said “Mr Speaker, our local textile industry has been struggling for years, and many textile companies have, indeed, gone under. We have decided to give it a major stimulus to help put it on a strong footing. The local textile industry has, therefore, been granted a zero-rated VAT on the supply of locally-made textiles for a period of three years. We have put in place a tax stamp regime for both locally manufactured and imported textiles to address the challenge of pirated designs and logos in the textile trade. The Tema Port has been designated as a Single-Entry Corridor for the importation of textile prints, with a textile task-force in place to ensure effective compliance, and reduce, if not eliminate, smuggling of imported textiles. A new textile import management system has been instituted, also, to control imports of textiles”.

While commending the President, Nana Akufo-Addo for his efforts to resuscitate the textile industry, the Coalition said it had noticed a “piecemeal and partial implementation of the measures without the critical and indispensable functions of The Anti-Textiles Piracy Task Force”.

The leadership of the coalition, says in order to ease the agitations within the rank and file of employees over their job insecurity, it is proposing for an emergency meeting with the sector minister by Tuesday 30th July to address the concerns of its members.