Garment and Leather Employees Union demand anti textile piracy taskforce
Members of the Garment and Leather Employees Union (TGLEU) are set to demonstrate on May Day to back their demand for the anti-textile piracy task force to be reactivated.
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They want the taskforce to deal with piracy of fabrics in the local market and would wear red to demand that.
The move, according to the General Secretary of the union, Mr Abraham Coomson, would send a strong indication to political leadership that the time had come to crack the whip on pirates to save the local textile industry from collapsing.
May 1 is marked annually as workers day to honour employees who had lost their lives in the line of duty or suffered all manner of injustice at the workplace. Workers across the world use the day to speak out on issues that affect them at work and to seek a better working environment.
Reservations
Speaking to the Daily Graphic last Friday, Mr Coomson observed that given the increasing rate of the unemployed in the country, it was appropriate for the day to be christened "Unemployment Day" because that was the true state of the country.
"What is the essence of May Day when thousands of people are losing their jobs in the textile industry and other areas because of weak control systems?
"After 60 years of independence, our local markets are still dominated by imported fabrics while textile factories that were the hope of the country are now pale shadows of themselves. We cannot be happy as workers in this type of situation," he said.
Fake textiles
Mr Coomson displayed samples of fake textiles that had invaded the local market and asked for stringent mechanisms to deal with the pirates.
Even though some of the pieces of fabric he displayed had the designs of Akosombo Textiles Limited, Printex and other local brands on them, he explained that the fabrics were pirated.
"We are not saying that other people should not import textiles, but the situation whereby they steal our logos, designs, and evade tax in a manner that disadvantages local companies and deprives the country of the needed revenue should not be countenanced.
"Local textile companies employ professionals to make the designs only for criminal elements to sneak it to China and other places. Utility bills, Value Added Tax (VAT), cost of labour and other economic dynamics have a bearing on the prices of the local fabrics, but the pirates do not go through the same conditions," he stressed.
Task force
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) set up the anti-textile piracy taskforce in 2010 to halt the activities of pirates.
The taskforce, which included personnel drawn from the security agencies, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Service (GRA), and the Ghana Union of Trade Associations (GUTA), tackled the challenges posed by pirates to the local textile industry.
"Things were getting better when the taskforce was operational. However, after the change in political power, the taskforce stopped its operations, so the pirates have regained their feet," he said.
Mr Coomson said all attempts to get the appropriate government agencies, including the MTI, to reactivate the taskforce had not yielded the desired results.
SEND-Ghana report
Touching on the report that was launched by Social Enterprise Development (SEND)-Ghana, a civil society group, on the free school uniforms programme, he said it was important for the government to consider giving the contract back to Printex.
"Printex acquired sophisticated machines as part of a roadmap to execute the contract. Following the abrogation of the contract by the government, the machines are lying idle. This situation will not encourage the growth of local industries," he added.
Mr Coomson explaining the difference between the pirated fabrics and the authentic ones to our reporter