Material hurdles remain
NEWS ANALYSIS: How H&M and Zara riled Sactwu
Union fears international outlets are selling to SA at low prices based on preferential EU import duties
For a short while, some time around 2014, it looked as if the clothing, textile, footwear & leather (CTFL) sector was beginning to recover after almost 20 years of crippling pressure from East Asian imports. But just as the industry was getting on its feet came the double whammy of dismally low economic growth and the spread of international clothing retailers through the country’s upmarket shopping malls. The biggest and fastest-growing of them — H&M and Zara — do not source any of their products from SA, a policy they appear to have little or no intention of changing. It’s a bitter blow for the SA Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu), which has fought valiantly to hold on to every single one of its members’ jobs. Part of that fight has involved working with retailers and government to switch to local sourcing by developing areas of competitive strength to protect and grow jobs. The combined effort achieved significant progress and managed to staunch the job losses — for a wh...
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