The European Parliament and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund have agreed to co-finance aid for 1460 unemployed Portuguese citizens.
A total of €4,655,883 made available by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund will fund training, business help and allowances for 730 textile workers recently made redundant and 730 young people not in employment, education or training.
1,161 textile workers have been made redundant across three regions of Portugal, 88.63 per cent of whom are women with low levels of education. 20.55 per cent of the workers made redundant are over 55, leaving them at a disadvantage re-entering the workforce. The most vulnerable workers will be prioritised in European Globalisation Adjustment Fund allocation.
The Portuguese government has blamed shifting global markets for the redundancies, pointing out that the EU’s market share has decreased and prices are being driven down by the increase in imported garments. Textiles and clothing producers – including Ricon Group and Têxtil Gramax Internacional, both of which are responsible for the redundancies – therefore shift their manufacturing operations overseas where costs are lower. Portugal is planning “active labour market measures” for affected workers outwith European Globalisation Adjustment Fund intervention.
The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, an EU initiative, was set up to provide advice, support and financial aid to employees throughout the EU who have lost their jobs as a direct or indirect result of “major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation” – for example, when a company moves production outside the EU to combat costs or shuts down due to the global financial crisis.
The EU Budget Committee’s report calling for the mobilisation of European Globalisation Adjustment Fund funds to help Portuguese workers said: “the [European] Union’s financial assistance to workers made redundant should be dynamic and made available as quickly and efficiently as possible… the coordinated package of personalised services [to be provided by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund] has been drawn up in consultation with a working group, which included the Public Employment Service, representatives of the trade unions, the Institute of Social Security and the Authority for Work Conditions.”
