N.Z. CLOTHING INDUSTRY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27990, 9 June 1956, Page 10

N.Z. CLOTHING INDUSTRY

UNIONS’ CASE FOR PROTECTION

SUBMISSIONS TO TARIFF INQUIRY

Because New Zealand clothing industries were small and contained a large number of units technically not progressive, they required protection against more efficient competition, said the New Zealand Federated Clothing Tradd Unions.in their submissions to the Board of Trade tariff hearing. “Although it may be possible to import much of the equivalent of New Zealand clothing production at cheaper prices from abroad, such importation would not represent a gain in the economy of the country,” the submissions said. “Because most of the workers engaged in the industry could not find employment. elsewhere the gain in cheapness would ( be very .much counter-balanced by a loss in production. Although goods might be cheaper we would not have the money to buy them. Protection of the clothing industry results, therefore, in a net addition to the national income, and is desirable.

“Withdrawal of protection would lead to contraction of the industry, employers’ demands for reduced wages and consequent industrial conflict, sweated labour and the spread of outwork, and a direct and indirect loss of national income.”

The clothing industry was at a disadvantage when compared with other manufacturing industries, as many operations must be performed by hand, the unions said. A case was quoted of a Japanese girl making blouses in a small Japanese factory for about £3 10s a month for working six days a week and an average of 10 hours a day. Wages in Hong Kong, and to some extent in India, made competition similarly difficult. Overseas concerns could reduce cost of production by producing big quantities. If they could not sell all they had produced during the season on their home market they could dump lots overseas at cost price, maintaining home market prices while depressing industries abroad. It was against such practices that special protection was* needed.

During 1951-52 and 1952-53, when employment in the clothing and similar industries fell by 2700, the influx into the labour force was reduced by about 2700 from its average, the submissions said. When in 1954 the clothing and similar industries expanded, female employment rose well above average. Retrenchment in the clothing industries hit most of the many part-time workers employed, and the clothing industry drew on a labour supply that could not be employed elsewhere.

‘The maintenance of a healthy clothing industry in New Zealand is of great social importance with regard to the integration of the Maori people into our economy,” the submissions continued. “There has been a considerable growth of employment in clothing industries with a large Maori population.”