Union figure on job losses in rag trade is overstated
October 10, 2006
By Tom Robbins
Cape Town - Trade union estimates of job losses in the clothing sector had been grossly overestimated, said Mike Morris, a professor of economic development at the University of Cape Town.
The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) persuaded the government to impose quotas on Chinese imports on the back of claims that up to 67 000 jobs had been lost in the sector over the last four years.
But Morris said the real figure was closer to a quarter of that.
Morris said he calculated, from data supplied by the National Bargaining Council for Clothing as well as the Textile Federation, that there had been about 16 500 retrenchments. He said it was possible that the figure was slightly higher as not all companies were covered by the federation, "but even still this is a very long way from the 67 000 unemployed workers claimed as justification for this radical intervention".
Morris, along with Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni and retailers, criticised government's decision to impose quotas on the importation of Chinese-manufactured clothing and textiles. The criticisms included a claim that prices would rise and that the two-year reprieve for manufacturers was not a sustainable means to build an internationally competitive industry.
Earlier this year Morris helped bring manufacturers and retailers together to form the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster after years of animosity between the two.
According to Sactwu, the 67 000 jobs were lost as a flood of imports took its toll on local manufacturers.
Sactwu's general secretary, Ebrahim Patel, said he had calculated the figure from Statistics SA jobs data. He said 55 000 jobs could be created in the sector as a result of the opportunity provided for local manufacturers by the quotas.
But not all players believe there is high unemployment in the sector.
Hassim Randeree, the president of the Clothing Trade Council of SA, said there was "definitely a shortage of available machinists". He speculated that retrenched sewing machine operators had found work with small informal manufacturers.
Protective clothing and cotton shirt manufacturer Sweet-Orr & Lybro recently said that it had battled to hire sewing machine operators that it needed, even before the announcement of the quotas.
Executive director of the 75-year-old company John Jacobs said Sactwu had been very helpful in providing a list of unemployed machinists but these former machinists "were not readily available".
He said some workers had found employment in cleaning services and security companies. The pay in these jobs was not necessarily better but some machinists had lost confidence in the long-term viability of the industry.
But Patel said his union was planning to go on a publicity drive to find retrenched machinists because the quotas afforded new opportunities.
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