Big loss of jobs forecast

Press, 20 February 1980, Page 2

Big loss of jobs forecast

The Labour Party’s shadow Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr J. A. Walding) said yesterday that the Government’s programme for restructuring the textile industry was a . “one-sided hatchet job. that:will mean huge unemployment,” the Press Association -reports. .

Mr'.Walding said fully agreed that positivesteps had to be taken to restructure the industry. But successful restructuring demanded that incentives to' change were applied in sufficient time and degree to prevent the industry’s being wiped out in the transitional period.

He accused the Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr Adams-Schneider) of putting the cart before the horse. “He is lifting the protection before the incentives have a chance to bite,” Mr Walding said. “The result will be huge lay-offs and closings throughout the industry.” Mr Walding predicted that the effects would cripple smaller towns where the textile industry was often the only employer of the female work-force.

The Government had accepted only parts of the

original textile industry report released last year. .

“Several of the crucial recommendations, offering financial assistance, have been rejected by the Government,” Mr Walding said. From'Auckland have come predictions of big staff layoffs and ripples through the economy to associated industries such as printing and packaging.

Mr G. Fowler, managing director of A. Ashton, Ltd, New Zealand’s only towelling manufacturer, says he,is “quite perturbed” by plans to abolish tariffs and import licensing on linen and towelling. “It could put 2000 workers out of a job in the cut-make-and-trim trade,” he said.

Mr Fowler, who is also president of the Auckland Manufacturers’ Association, said he did not know what was in the fine print of the Government’s plan, but the textile trade was perturbed and the livelihood of many people would change. Mr Fowler said his firm was an exporter and considered itself competitive, but would be no match for a cheapen range of Asian imports which could be landed

for less than the cost of imported cloth. . A council member of the Garment and Textile Federation and director of Ambler and Company (Mr D. Watson) said the textile industry plan was one of many which had been produced over the years, but previous plans had been shelved.

He was deeply concerned now- that the Government had approved., clothing imports to more than double. “We already have competition within the industry, and imports from cheap labour sources, particularly if they are made up of fabrics we do not have access to, could have a serious effect on us,” Mr Watson said.

Social Credit's spokesman on economic affairs (Mr L. Hunter) said New Zealand would sink under a rising tide of increased taxation if the Government thought that the only way to restructure industry was through the use of taxpayers’ money. “Allowing the textile industry to restructure itself with low-interest investment money would be much more effective than a $5 million h ndout of taxpayers’ money,” Mr Hunter said. The Government’s method

of restructuring the textile industry contravened basic private enterprise principles, he said. If expanded, the policy would founder because of the imposition it made on taxpayers. ■ Fibremakers, Ltd, which employs. 185, says it is seriously threatened by the Government’s plan.

The announcement came as a surprise to the firm, wholly owned by 1.C.1. N.Z., Ltd. It said the Government’s decision to treat synthetic yarns in the same manner as linen and towels went against the Industries Development Commission recommendations. The ICI board said the company would take “appropriate measures to counter the threat” the Government plan posed. Fibremakers began business at Wiri in 1965 as the first New Zealand manufacturer of nylon and polyester.

Benefit payout A total of "16,980 people were being paid the unemployment benefit as at February 8, the Department of Social Welfare said in a statement yesterday. The number was 18,222 a fortnight earlier.