Les transformations dans la structure de l'industrie textile dans la région de Lódz

The Łódź region includes 5 voivodships ; Łódź, Piotrkow, Sieradz, Płock, and Skierniewice. Since 1983, this region has been rejfered to as the Central Macroregion. The area of the region comprises 21,7 thousand km2, that is about 7 per cent of the Polish Territory. A the end of 1982 over 3 million people inhabited this macroregion 141 people for 1 km2 on the average whereas the corresponding number for the whole country was 115. The characteristic feature of the central macroregion is a high degree of industrialization, 420 thousand people works in industry, that is nearly 44 per cent of all people employed by the socialized economy of this region. The index of the employement in industry for 1 000 people is considerably differentiated, it songes from 81 people in the Sieradz voivodship of 193 in the Łódź voivodship. In the industrial structure of Poland the central macroregion is a distinctly formed complex of the light industry including the textile, clothing and leather industry. The light industry employs here 45 per cent of the total number of those working in industry, whereas the machine building industry employs 25 per cent, and the chemical and food industry 16 per cent. The Łódź voivodship has a particulary high percentage of the people employed in industry, in 1981 it was over 57 per cent. The central macroregion had a marked decrease of the employement in the light industry by, 9, 7 per cent, that is 22 thousand people. Such a considerable fall was due partly of the technical progress, but mainly to lowering the age of retiring, and giving women a few years leaves for brin¬ ging up children. The decrease in the number of workers was also caused by shortage of raw textile materials, difficulties with the export of final products, especially during the crisis which began in Poland in 1980. The main feature of the central (Łódź) macroregion in Poland is great concentration of production and employement, mainly in the textile industry. In 1980, 46 per cent of the woolen and wool-like materials, and 35 per cent of silk fabrics were produced here. These data point to a very intensive, but too one-sided development of industry in this macroregion. Until the end of the seventies the textile and clothing industry had high coefficients of shift and night work. Such a system is decidedly criticised now, but continuing it in the present situation is a necessity, because the state has no means for further modernisation and providing modern machines for the textile industry. The factories of the socialized textile industry of the central macroregion are situated in 23 towns : in the Łódź voivodship : Łódź, Pabianice, Zgierz, Aleksandrów Lodzki, and Konstantynów L. ; in the Piotrków voivodship : Zduńska Wola, Sieradz, Szadek, Grzeszy n, Okup Maty and Pruszków ; in the Skierniewice Voivodship : Żyrardów and Łowicz ; in the Płock voivodship : Płock and Łęczyca. All these centres cooperate very closely. Each of them has its own sphere of influencing the neighbourhood. Łódź is the main centre of the textile industry. About 100 000 textile workers are employed in the city. Other big centres of textile workers employement are : Pabianice, Żyrardów, Zgierz, Zduńska Wola and Tomaszów Mazowiecki. In the years 1955-1980 new textile factories have been built in Sieradz, Łowicz, Radomsko, Opoczno, ßibcki, Łęczyca-, and many others were enlarged and modernized. The new mills were built in order to activate the industry in the towns of the central Poland-. Some new clothing industry factories were also built in the same period, among others in Poddebice, Brzeziny, Rawa Mazowiecka, and Mszczonyow. The great concentration of the textile and clothing industry, especially in the central macroregion, resulted in low level of wages, excessive feminization of the industry and low level of qualifications of the employed in central Poland. In the middle of the seventies the Łódź macroregion employs nearly 51 per cent of the total number of the Polish cotton industry workers, 51 per cent of those employed in the Polisj knitting and hosiery industry, 43 per cent in woolen industry, 35 per cent in silk and decorative industry, 32 per cent in the felt and technical fabrics industry, and about 12 per cent in the linen industry. It should be stressed here that the textile industry of the central macroregion is centred mainly in the Łódź voivodship. In 1981 the textile industry of this voivodship employed almost 125 thousand workers. 80 per cent of this number were employed in Łódź, more than 8 per cent in Pabianice, and nearly 4 per cent in Ozorkow and Zgierz. The were 288 socialized textile factories, that is 16,4 per cent off all polish textile workers. These date confirm the thesis that the Lodz voivodship is one of the biggest concentrations of the textile industry in Poland and Europ. Many important changes took place in the Łódź voivodship and its neighbourhood in 1950-1981, when compared with the state from before 1939. The electrical and machine-building industry was built, the chemical industry was developped, and now power industry is being built. These industries will result in further transformations of the employment structure in the light industry in central Poland, but it will be a slow process, because of poor financial possibilities of the state. That is why I think that the central macroregion will for a long time retain its domination in the light industry in Poland.La région de Łódź représente 7 % du territoire polonais et compte 3 millions d'habitants , elle comprend 5 voivodies : 420 000 personnes y travaillent dans l'industrie. Le trait dominant de cette région est la grande importance de l'industrie textile. Au milieu des années 1970, elle employait 51 % du total des travailleurs de l'industrie cotonnière polonaise, 51 % de ceux de l'industrie de la bonneterie, 43 % de ceux de l'industrie lainière, 35 % de ceux de l'industrie de la soie, 32 % de ceux de l'industrie des feutres et des tissus techniques, et 12 % de ceux de l'industrie linière. La voivodie de Lodz représente l'une des plus forte concentrations textiles de toute l'Europe. Des changements importants se sont produits au cours des années 1950-1981, les industries de la construction mécanique et électrique se sont développées ainsi que l'industrie chimique. De grandes centrales ont été contruites. Ces industries modifieront progressivement les structures de l'emploi dans cette région, mais le processus sera lent et cette région dominera encore longtemps l'industrie légère polonaise.Paczna S. Les transformations dans la structure de l'industrie textile dans la région de Lódz. In: Hommes et Terres du Nord, 1984/2. Géographie des textiles. pp. 115-126