ITGLWF tells European clothing retailers to stop

ITGLWF tells European clothing retailers to stop complaining

26/08/2005

European clothing retailers have been told to stop complaining about recent trade restraints placed on textiles and clothing imports from

China

. Their current campaign against EU action was described as verging on the hysterical and devoid of substance” by Neil Kearney, general secretary of the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).

The European Union and China opened trade talks after the EU halted imports of Chinese textiles goods which had breached quota limits agreed earlier in the year. As a result, stocks of sweaters, trousers, bras and other garments have been piling up in European port warehouses since July.

Said Mr. Kearney: Like lemmings, European and US retailers rushed headlong into China when trade regulation in the textile and clothing sector ended at the beginning of the year. In the process, they abandoned their long-term suppliers elsewhere, including in some of the world's poorest countries. They knew full well the terms of China's accession to the World Trade Organisation, which included provisions for safeguard action on textiles and clothing trade until the beginning of 2008.

But ignoring all this, they piled order upon order, which resulted in China shipping more in the first few months of 2005 than in the whole of the previous year. In the meantime, many of their previous suppliers were going out of business in countries like Mauritius, Lesotho and Cambodia, leaving workers there destitute. Not a word of regret was heard from those now whinging about the possibility of empty shelves."

ITGLWF tells European clothing retailers to stop - sportstextiles: Lea

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ITGLWF tells European clothing retailers to stop complaining