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Talk of influx of extra weavers causes alarm               21/2/12

Confusion over the aims of an £100,000 European funding package for Harris Tweed training has led some weavers to fear they may suffer a huge drop in wages if an army of "new" weavers flood the workforce as is suggested.

Some mainland media reported that 126 new weavers would be trained and brought into the workforce under the funding award.

Hebrides News understands the new trainees’ figure is much lower and the funding also covers existing workers.

Current weavers say the industry has achieved a satisfactory balance between demand and weavers’ output for the famous cloth.

They fear if the wholly self-employed workforce is swollen by the reported figure this would mean everyone struggling with a lot less work as the same amount of tweeds would be spread over a far larger number of weavers.

Now the biggest producer of Harris Tweed in the Western Isles demands "urgent clarification."

Brian Wilson, chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides, said reports referring to "126 new weavers" had caused alarm among existing weavers and risked raising false hopes for the island's unemployed.

Mr Wilson said that both his company, which runs the Shawbost mill, and the Harris Tweed Authority had made clear that there were severe limitations on the number of additional weavers who could be introduced into the industry over the next few years because of a shortage of double-width looms.

He said that weavers who had seen "boom and bust" before had been alarmed by the suggestion of their number doubling.

He added: "There have been two very successful training courses in the past couple of years which increased the weaver pool by about 20. The balance between demand and capacity is now pretty good."

He said it seemed likely that existing weavers who will be offered certification courses had been "lumped in" to make the number up to 126.

He said: "I think it would be in everyone's interests if the break-down of numbers was clarified as a matter of urgency."

Meanwhile, even if extra people were introduced into the industry they would find it impossible to get work as virtually every loom on the island is being used by an existing weaver.

An audit is taking place to determine if any spare looms are lying unused on crofts and sheds around the island and to trace as many as possible of the 149 double width looms introduced in the 1990s.

The three mills producing the iconic textile are at their busiest in for recent years due to rising orders.

Because of their scarcity, industry chiefs propose potential efficiency modifications to existing looms to produce more cloth for the same effort.