The Hindu Business Line : `WTO meet must discuss textile issues separately'

THE International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) has said that the next month's WTO ministerial meeting at Hong Kong must have specific discussion on the impact of trade liberalisation on textiles and clothing sector in countries forecast to face their textile trade `burnout'.

The federation has in this regard urged the trade unions to prevail upon their respective local governments to bring forward the agenda for WTO developing measures to help emerging and struggling industries adjust to meet the threats posed by dominant producers such as China and including the possibility of a permanent safeguards clause.

"To protect jobs in the industry in the poorest countries, textiles and clothing needs to be detached from the general discussions in the Hong Kong meet and treated separately," the federation General Secretary, Mr Neil Kearney, has said in a statement.

The `bleakest' forecasts for trade and employment trends for 2005 have not materialised and the industry remained relatively stable in countries forecast for burnout this year.

But this had not happened by accident. The threat of safeguard action followed by the introduction of new trade restraints in the EU and the US caused a rethink by many intent on relocating production to China.

Calling upon the global trade unions to work towards creating adequate trade measures to meet the threat posed by dominant players, the federation felt that the refusal of governments to enforce effective labour legislation and failure of voluntary initiatives involving corporate codes of conduct to eradicate the key abuses made it essential that the WTO and the ILO created mechanisms to help `outlaw' the use of exploitation to gain market advantage.

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