Clothing & Textiles

National Secretary - Phil Davies

The Section has around 16,000 members, of whom three quarters are women. They are employed in the whole range of clothing and textiles, from raw cotton workers, to fabric weavers and from those who produce babywear to the makers of Saville Row bespoke suits.  Knitwear, hosiery and carpets are also covered within the Section.

Many of the workers are very low paid and reliant on incentive work to increase their earning levels. The Section is responsible for the majority of wage negotiations throughout the Industry.

Textile negotiations take place mainly at plant level. Clothing negotiations take place both through a national agreement with the British Clothing Industry Association - an agreement which covers holidays, wages, hours of work, overtime payments and cancer screening - and through plant bargaining with the larger of the multi-national companies in the industry.