Stitched Up

How those Imposing Unfair Competition in the Textiles and Clothing Industries are the Only Winners in this Race to the Bottom

By ICFTU

Just as the international trade union movement predicted, the liberalisation of world trade in textiles has turned the sector on its head and had a devastating social cost.

As anticipated, China is cashing in on the unfair competition it imposes on its developing country rivals, with exports to the United States and Europe rising by 70% and 45% respectively between January and April 2005. The rock bottom prices offered by Chinese manufacturers, which are between 10 and 50% cheaper than their competitors in other low-wage countries, explains the current stampede of buyers to China. These prices are mainly due to the unbridled exploitation of the workforce, characterised - amongst other things - by abnormally low salaries, excessive working hours and frequently intolerable health and safety conditions

Accounts gathered by ICFTU for the new report from trade unionists on the ground show that workers in most countries suffering from China's unfair competition are in a truly dire situation. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost around the world, either because local factories are unable to compete with Chinese imports or because orders have diminished as buyers flock to China. Employers and governments are using competition from China as a pretext for forcing terrible working conditions and very low salaries on workers employed in the sector, but also to step up their measures against trade unions.