Seven ICU Executives sworn into office

Tema, Oct. 15, GNA -- Seven elected local union executives of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), including a woman, were on Friday inaugurated at the Tex Styles Ghana Limited, formerly Ghana Textile Printing Company in Tema, with a call on members to be united and collaborate with management to help achieve the company's set goals. Mr Morgan Ayawine, Regional Principal Industrial Relations Officer, who made the call, stressed the need for Government to re-examine the country's trade policies, especially on textiles and garments, to prevent the Textiles Industry from collapsing.

He blamed the influx of shoddy and cheap foreign goods into the country on the over-liberalised market economy, and suggested that to address the issue, the textiles sector be granted tax rebate on the importation of raw materials.

Mr Ayawine further suggested the formation of a joint task force made up of representatives from Government and the textiles sector, to monitor illegal activities at the borders.

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Gilles Moison, Managing Director (MD) of Tex Styles Limited, regretted that the company's sales volume, had since the year 2,000, not increased.

Mr Moison attributed this situation to a number of challenges, including intense local and foreign competitions, high cost of operations, high cost of capital, and depreciation of the cedi against the euro.

He said due to the challenges facing the company, it had decided to focus attention on waste reduction, and increase in the efficiency of its operations, to reduce the cost of production through Total Production Manufacturing (TPM).

He said it was regrettable to note that due to the scheduled maintenance the factory undertook in June and July this year, people had the perception that the factory had closed down, thus the market was using that as a bait for selling their products.

"Be it known that GTP is still in business, and we are still producing the quality Dumas prints we are known for", assured the MD.

Mr Moison reminded the union executive members that the era of confrontation and mutual suspicion had now given way to collaboration and team work, and therefore urged them to make positive contributions to help move the company forward.

Mr Emmanuel Cofson, Chairman of the Union, thanked workers of the company for the confidence reposed in members of the union, and promised that they would remain united, and work effectively as workers. He reiterated the call on Government to intervene to solve the numerous problems facing the textiles industry to help it from collapsing. 15 Oct. 05