100 Printex Workers Lose Jobs

About 100 workers of Printex Limited, a state-owned textile manufacturing company located off the Spintex Road in Accra have been laid off.

Their dismissal was due to the massive decline in sales and high taxes, BUSINESS GUIDE has learnt.

Between January and May this year, a total of 426 workers of Printex have been sacked.

Management told the paper that the company, which has been in existence for the past 50 years, had a workforce of 750 before the start of the year, but can only boast of 224 workers because of harsh economic conditions.

BUSINESS GUIDE visited the company’s deserted premises on Wednesday to assess the situation.

Francis Omari, Human Resource Manager, explained that the company could not continue production owing to the decline in sales and high taxes.

He also attributed the development to the influx of cheap and pirated wax prints on the Ghanaian market.

“Customers prefer the cheap pirated cloths than the local, thereby destroying the local textile industries.

A full piece of pirated cloth cost GH¢65 compared to full piece of original local product which cost GH¢115. This makes the customers to patronize the cheaper product without checking the authenticity.”

He called on government to stop interfering in the work of the taskforce.

“At as December 2015, we used to produce 170 bales daily of which a bale contained a total of 50 pieces, making it 17,500 pieces daily and we worked throughout the week. But now, we are only doing 20 bales a day and we have also reduced the working days to three from Monday to Wednesday. If you do the calculation, we produce 100 pieces daily,” Mr Omari added.

He stated that the production of Printex and local textiles manufacturing companies in Ghana declined after importation and smuggling of cheap prints through unapproved routes increased.

“If Printex is closed down, the government should be blamed for it because it is not helping the local industries to fight piracy.”