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

24 Jun '05

4 min read

"Furthermore, major brands and retailers are openly signaling they intend to further consolidate their sourcing, with companies such as Wal-Mart indicating they will reduce their country supply base from 63 to 12 by the year 2007. An emergency Policy Coherence Initiative on clothing and textiles detailing some sound trade policy and funding for aid must be adopted at the up-coming WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong if we are to stem the hemorrhaging of jobs," Ryder concluded.

The Executive Board also affiliated the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo (BSPK -Kosovo) in an important step that lends further support to Kosovo's trade unions in the struggle for better working conditions in the troubled province.

A new series of ICFTU Special Action Programmes (SAPs) was approved, with major campaigns together with Global Unions partners planned in the following areas: a political project to tackle globalization; the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP); Export Processing Zones (EPZs); China; and migrant workers.

Both the political project to tackle globalization and the GCAP will focus on building alliances with civil society to protect workers, their families and communities from the negative consequences of market liberalization and the unjust lending practices of international financial institutions. Direct support for the representation of workers' interests in China and organizing in EPZs will be a main feature of thoseg in EPZs will be a main feature of those two programmes.

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