Enforce textile tax stamp, registration laws – ICU

 The Industrial and Com­mercial Workers’ Union (ICU) has appealed to the government to enforce the textile tax stamp and registration laws on textile designs to help prevent activities of piracy by foreigners in the textile industry.

Consequently, the ICU called upon the government to extend and maintain the Zero Value Add­ed Tax (VAT) Exemption for the textile industry in the country to help sustain operations of textile companies in the country.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Trade and Industry during the launch of its Textile Tax Stamp policy in 2022 indicat­ed that dealers in textiles would from November 1, 2022, have to affix stamps to their products to certify the legitimacy of the tex­tiles produced in, imported into, and retailed in the country.

Speaking at the ICU’s regional conference in Tema yesterday, the General Secretary of the Union, Mr Morgan Ayawine, said that the call on the government by the ICU was as the result of challeng­es that textile companies in the country were facing.

He mentioned that the influx of pirated counterfeit textile products into the country, which constitut­ed 70 per cent of the Ghanaian textile market, negatively impact­ed the sustainability of the local textile industry, especially the operations of the Tex Styles Gha­na (TSG), Akosombo Industry Company Limited (AICL), and the Volta Star Textile Limited.

Mr Ayawine noted, for instance that TSG was currently operating under 50 per cent of its installed capacity, a deficiency which had a ripple effect on the functions of VSTL, where TSG had been sourcing 25 per cent of its grey baft needs, which constituted 100 per cent of VSTL’s entire produc­tion, resulting in its closure.

“These organisations are some of the Stated-Owned Enterprises that are distressed and need urgent resourcing and the government support to make them once more viable and profitable, as in the time past, to bring relief to their workers whose fate has been hanging in the balance for a long time now”, he elaborated.

Moreover, Mr Ayawine said a move had been made by the ICU to secure an investor to take over the operations of Aluworks, a strategic investment that produces aluminium sheets for the con­struction and automotive industry, pending approval of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Board that was yet to be reconstituted.

The General Secretary agagin underlined that he was optimis­tic that the government would expedite the appointment of the SSNIT Board to complete the process for Aluworks to bounce back in the shortest possible time as the company had been shut down due to lack of funds and the support of the government.

Mr Ayawine bemoaned the ten­dency of some employers to resist the unionisation of their employ­ees, which he said was contrary to the labour laws.

He, therefore, urged the gov­ernment to formulate policies that would deal with the challenges in the industrial sector of the econ­omy and to create more employ­ment for the youth.

Also, Mr Ayawine advised all workers and employers to always be guided by the provisions and dictates of the Collective Agree­ment and Labour Law to avoid any infringement on the rights and liberties of each other party in their social relationship.

 FROM IAN MOTEY, TEMA