Textile workers hit the streets over govt's failure to stop pirated textiles

Hundreds of workers of some textile manufacturing companies in the country have hit the streets of Accra to demonstrate over government’s failure to put measures in place to clamp down on pirated textiles on the market. The demonstrators held placards with inscriptions such as “taskforce is not a border guard”, “restore the taskforce to the market”, “stop copying our designs and labels” among others. According to the group, government has not shown enough commitment towards clamping down on pirated textiles in the country. The demonstrators threatened to vote against the NPP government in the 2020 elections if they fail to address the issue. The over 700 staff of the textile companies are mounting pressure on government to dispatch the anti piracy task force into markets, rather than restricting them to the country’s borders. They stated that the textile industry faces imminent collapse, if government does not heed their plea. Spokesperson of the group, Micheal Anglagman said they are responding to the president’s call to be citizens and not spectators, hence their decision to demonstrate to get government to address their concerns. “I am overwhelmed about this number that has gathered here today, and it is a sign to show government that this is the number of people who are going to go home if they do not allow this piracy to stop,” Michael Anglagman said. Michael Anglagman further noted: “We are going to lose all these people and their families, they are going to be starving and there is going to be another burden on the government for employment, so the government must listen to us today.” The group gave government a one month ultimatum to address the issue, failure of which will result to the textile workers returning to the streets. By editors.3news.com| Ghana