Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter 
FRANCIS
PAT FRANCIS, president of the Jamaica Promotions (JAMPRO) has expressed disappointment at the withdrawal of Arh Enterprises Limited, a Kingston Free Zone manufacturing company.
Mrs Francis said news that more than 1,800 workers were made redundant was a "surprise". "They didn't mention to us that they would pull out. We didn't expect that," she told The Gleaner on Thursday.
She said that the company has cited last December's expiration of the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA), which allowed developed countries to set quotas and tariffs for garment imports, in part to help protect their own industries, as the reason for the company's withdrawal.
"Everyone knew that the MFA would have ended on January 1. We had expected that within two to three years they would gradually reposition themselves. We didn't expect they would have closed," she said.
The company, which is the producer of knitwear, has been operating in Jamaica since the 1980s. Mrs. Francis disclosed that the company was relocating to its mother country, China.
The Gleaner understands that the workers were given their redundancy payments on Thursday. Mrs. Francis pointed out that JAMPRO over the years had been preparing companies to diversify and in the process developing the local industries.
"We are trying to develop our local industries into building the capabilities of our designers. The value of what we produce will come back to the country. What we are loosing is employment but we will be gaining value (overtime)."
Commenting on the latest job cuts at Arh Enterprises Limited, Senator Dwight Nelson, president of the Jamaica Confededation of Trade Union (JCTU), said, "the job loss is significant." He added that generally, it has been proven that women were the head of several households in the country and this he said would mean that this job cut would have a far reaching impact. "We are very concerned and we will be speaking on it shortly," he said.
