Latterley } too
Mitandoy
Tattersalls
En
Bf 257/10
Weekly Survey of the Textile Scene
F. W. TATTERSALL LTD, WOOLWICH HOUSE
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61 MOSLEY STREET MANCHESTER M2 3HU 061-236 8757
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No. 1,542
FIGHTING FOR IMPORT CONTROL ||
October 26, 1971.
The campaign to persuade the Government that some action should be taken to halt the decline of the cotton textile industry in the U.K. seems to be gathering momentum. The official meeting between represen- tatives of the employers, the trade unions and Sir John Eden, the Minister for Industry, was quickly followed by an impassioned plea through the medium of the national Press by a pressure group called Textile Industry Support Campaign.
This newly-created body is the brainchild of the Oldham & District Textile Employers' Association and its outspoken approach will no doubt gain the support of a larger audience in the textile industry who believe that the time has now come to make bold and firm statements about the very real problems facing the U.K. cotton and allied textile industry. Vocal support for the campaign has indeed come from both employers and unions. This illustrates yet again the "joint approach" method which has indicated to successive Governments the solidarity of the industry when presenting its case, particularly over low-cost imports.
Although there is nothing strange about employers and unions join- ing together in a campaign of this kind in the textile industry, it can still be regarded as an unusual alliance as far as British industry in general is concerned. For this reason, if for no other, the publicity already given to this "joint approach" aspect of the Textile Industry Support Campaign can only assist in creating favourable public sympathy for the industry's situation.
Mill Closures
Launching the campaign, Mr. Edmund T. Gartside, president of the Oldham & District Textile Employers' Association and chairman of Shiloh Spinners, gave factual evidence that in the last ten years 564 mills had closed down and 107,000 workpeople had lost their jobs. Since January this year 51 mills had closed
an average of six a month and in one year 13,000 people had left the industry, a great many of them being redundant.
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"This represents the loss of more jobs than is involved in Upper Clyde Shipbuilders and nearly as many as in Rolls Royce", declared Mr. Gartside. "Yet, this has happened with hardly a comment in the Press or in Parliament."
Referring to short-time working and the hardship caused, Mr. Gartside said this was because the present Government, like its predecessors of both political parties, was refusing to face up to the problem of cheap imports. The industry was not seeking money. "We are merely asking for a positive imports policy on similar lines to that being adopted by the Governments of other developed countries."
With imports already running 39% above the rate of last year they could well reach the peak levels of 1968. The latest estimate is that imported cotton and allied textiles now represent 53% of the total mar- ket at a time of reduced home demand.
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