Garments

of wrath

By Richard Dinnen

ORGANISERS may now wish they had not staged a display of Fiji made clothing at the Apparel Expo ’B9 at Sydney’ Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre. Only dedicated clo

thing trade figures braved Sydney’s big

wet to attend a late July showing of the

industry’s latest styles. The Fiji display

was designed to lure Australian manu facturers into “off-shore” arrangements with island-based manufacturers. The quality of the garments on display was equal to anything else on show and some good P.R. was reportedly affected.

But a picket line staged outside the Expo by the Clothing and Allied Trades Union of Australia may have negated much of that public relations effort. Un ion members were protesting, at the re quest of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, over “appalling” conditions for workers

employed in the Fiji garment industry.

They urged visitors to boycott Fiji-made

clothes and at least some traders were

sympathetic.

It was a protest on two fronts, said Union state secretary Kevin Boyd. “We want to expose the sub-standard wages and conditions in the Fijian garment in dustry and support the right for workers there to organise unions,” Boyd said.

Also of concern was the likely effect on the Australian clothing industry of

cheap, duty-free imports of Fiji-made

garments.

“Fiji is encouraging companies from Sydney and Australia to transfer their manufacturing operations over there and then export the goods back to Au stralia,” Boyd said. His members feel the South Pacific Regional Trade and Eco nomic Co-operation Agreement (SPAR TECA) between Australia, New Zealand and Forum nations is being abused.

“Under SPARTECA, provided labour makes up 50 per cent of the landed con tent of the goods, then they can arrive in Australia duty free. This is not benefit ting the people in Fiji at all. Most of the garments on display here are being pro duced for Australian companies by ex ploited Fiji workers. Australian com panies, who aren’t allowed to exploit labour at home, are going to Fiji and are exploiting the labour over there.

“That means we’ll have further down turn in the Australian industry. This country will finish up being flooded by goods made in Fiji. It means that we’ve got a Korea or a Taiwan on our door steps.”

Australian clothing workers are acutely aware of the threat posed to their jobs by the Fiji “sweat-shops”. New Zealand clothing manufacturers already have felt the impact of cheap imports from island manufacturers and have laid off work ers. While the Sydney protest was aimed at saving Australian jobs, there was genuine concern for Fiji workers.

“They work in sweat shop conditions for as little as 50 cents an hour. You can’t live on that, even in Fiji,” says Boyd. “It’s a totally unfair situation. It’s

particularly digusting that Australian

manufacturers are involved in this ex ploitation of labour to the extent that they support the Fijian Government in not allowing people to organise in trade unions.”

Garment industry workers in Fiji have waged a long fight to register a trade union but have met with official resist ance and clandestine harrassment. A un ion was finally registered in late July.

Demonstrators outside the Sydney ex hibition were critical of Fiji’s interim gov ernment’s record on industrial relations and workers’ rights. Things were better before the coups, some said. Most anger was directed at multinational and Fiji companies. The protesters say SPARTE CA is being abused by these companies to reap huge profits from the lucrative Australia-New Zealand clothing market at the expense of under-pa id Fiji workers.

In Fiji, garments manufacturers’ spokesman Padam Lala rubbished the 50 cents pay claim, saying wages had in creased substantially in recent years to match the quality of work demanded by the exporters. “In all honesty you can never find anyone in Fiji to work for you for 50 cents an hour,” he said. “Fifty cents is history. Of course there is a dif ference in the standards of living in Au stralia and Fiji but when you compare the Fiji garments industry with those in Taiwan and Sri Lanka, we are very high ly competitive.” He also rubbished allegations Fiji garments were threaten ing the Australian industry. “We are not even causing a ripple in the Australian market,” he said. “In fact we are enhanc ing the Australian textile industry.” □