ICFTU urges WTO to take stand against global clothing & textile jobs-losses

24 Jun '05

4 min read

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions yesterday determined to hold an extraordinary congress of the ICFTU next year at which the organization will join forces with the World Confederation of Labor (WCL) and a number of currently unaffiliated national trade union centers in a historic step towards achieving one united world trade union international.

"The speed with which we are implementing the resolutions of the 18th ICFTU World Congress, held as recently as December last year in Miyazaki, Japan, is further proof of how serious we are about creating a truly global and united trade union movement equipped to tackle the challenge of globalization and represent workers on an unprecedented scale and with unprecedented strength," ICFTU General-Secretary Guy Ryder said.

At its Executive Board meeting in Brussels this week (21-22 June), the body also demanded that the World Trade Organization (WTO) urgently examine the impact of trade liberalization on the textile and clothing sector, following the end of the quota system in December 2004.

"Many of our members, both in developing and developed countries are already feeling the pain of the end of the quota system, and we are not even six months into it. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, largely in developing countries. The cost of such massive social dislocation is enormous and could have been avoided had the WTO heeded our call for a special transitional programme which would have helped countries cope," Ryder added.

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