Residents of besieged neighborhoods of Syria’s Aleppo fear losing their jobs
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The workers of sewing workshops in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, who have been besieged by government forces for three weeks, fear that the siege and the high prices of raw materials will affect their work.
Sewing workshops in the two besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo are considered the most important sector for private work and they provide many job opportunities for the residents of the two neighborhoods.
“In General, the prices of fabrics and sewing supplies, which must be exclusively from China, have increased by 60% since the start of the siege,” an official in the Aleppo Producers Union, who preferred not to be named for security reasons, told North Press.
“As producers, we pay 300,000 Syrian pounds for each Anter vehicle and 20 thousand SYP for a Suzuki car at the Fourth Division checkpoint to get the ready-made clothes out of the two besieged neighborhoods,” he added.
According to the official, the bribes they pay to the checkpoints of the Fourth Division range from $24,000 to $40,000 per container of fabric imported from the port, while they previously paid $4,000.
It should be known that there are about 1,200 sewing workshops in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, employing nearly twenty thousand workers.
The official warned that the workshops will stop working if the siege continues for a longer period, and due to the heavy taxes imposed by the checkpoints of the Fourth Division.
Muhammad Afraz, 37, a worker in a sewing workshop in the eastern neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, fears that he will lose his job due to the siege, saying, “After preventing the entry of bread and fuel into neighborhoods, we do expect preventing other things.”
Afraz called on the concerned authorities to resolve the dispute urgently, in order to prevent the deterioration of living conditions in light of the poor economic situation.
For nearly two weeks, the Fourth Armored Division of the government forces has been denying the entry of foodstuff to Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh.
Furthermore, the bakeries of the two neighborhoods have stopped working, as they ran out of flour, amid calls from the residents to end the siege.