Garment workers urge PM stall mounting job losses

05 Aug '05

3 min read

UNITE and HERE always organized and represented some of the most harassed workers in North America—recent immigrants, African Americans, women and workers in the South.

Skyrocketing Chinese clothing imports are killing Canadian jobs.

Workers in Canada's garment and textile industry are turning to Prime Minister Paul Martin for help this week as Chinese clothing imports swamp Canadian markets at ever-increasing rates and job losses accelerate.

New statistics demonstrate that 3,800 jobs were lost during the last month for which statistics are available and 25% of employment in the industry, Canada's 6th largest manufacturing sector, has been wiped out in the last seventeen months.

"The Prime Minister has the right and indeed the responsibility to immediately implement safeguards to curb these escalating rates of imports and to save thousands of jobs, but to date has failed to take action," says UNITE HERE Canadian director Alex Dagg.

"As the floor falls out from beneath these workers, the Prime Minister needs to understand that if he is not part of the solution, he is truly part of the problem."

Since quotas on Chinese clothing imports were dropped at the beginning of 2005, the numbers have been staggering. For men's jackets and blazers, imports from China grew 358% in the first five months of 2005, compared to a growth rate of 282% for the first four months of the year. In women's pants, the growth rate accelerated from 228% to 246%. In women's skirts, the growth rate accelerated from 216% to 233%.

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