Background information

On 25 May 2021, representatives of employers organisations and trade unions (IndustriAll Europe) in the European sectors: Textile, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (TCLF) met with the European Commission to discuss the current challenges facing TCLF industries and potential EU action to support sectors and their workers.

After discussions about the terrible (in their opinions) impact of COVID-19 on sectors and the needs for decisive EU action, the social partners adopted a joint statement on expected future industrial strategy for the EU Textiles Ecosystem.

Content of measure

The joint statement highlighted the need for a dedicated strategy with national and EU support to help TCLF sectors survive the COVID-19 pandemic, while they continue to face tough and sometimes unfair global competition. The social partners fully endorsed the EU's ambitions for the ecological and digital transformation of sectors but insist on specific European measures to help industries transform while still suffering from unequal global competition conditions.

Specific joint requests include:

• full involvement of social partners in both the recovery and transformation of the industry;
• support for the EU Skills Pact for an appropriate ecosystem;
• revision of the Generalized System of Preferences which will have no negative impact on sectors and their workers, support for the decarbonisation of sectors;
• careful consideration of due diligence legislation;
• high-quality dialogue with social partners ahead of the EU Sustainable Products Initiative and the Consumer Agenda.

In the assessment of the social partners, special attention should also be paid to the upcoming EU Textiles Strategy, which should fully reflect the needs of the entire textile ecosystem in the EU.

Use of measure

The estimated number of workers concerned is over 2 million.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Other groups of workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
EU level social partners	Other

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: EU level

Involvement

The initiative is an independent joint reaction of social partners to the difficult situation in the sector. Their further involvement will depend on the reactions of the relevant EU institutions.

Views and reactions

Social partners' view on their own initiative is supportive.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 28 May 2021: Joint Statement on the future industrial strategy of the EU Textiles Ecosystem (TCLF sectors)EU action to safeguard the industries and their workers (news.industriall-europe.eu)