United Kingdom
The Textile Service Association (TSA) continues to urge the government to take measures to support laundries that need help. The association has had some success in implementing plans to provide the NHS and health facilities with reusable PPE (see LCNi report).
In his eleventh newsletter to TSA members, the association's CEO David Stevens reported: “At least in this newsletter, we can talk about the reopening of hospitality plans. We don't yet know when, how or if it will work financially – we hope this proves to be good news for everyone. We as an industry are in unprecedented times and many of us will be amazed at our future when we enter week 14 of the ban. How can we survive without income and with practically no support? We will continue to ask the government this question.
"I just want to comment on what an incredible industry we are, we just seem to be getting along with it somehow, and I really hope that in the next few weeks we will at least get a feel for what the surge could look like and we can shed some light on it See the end of the tunnel (not CBW). At TSA, the entire team is passionate about continuing to support you in every way possible. They all deserve to emerge from it together. A lot has happened and most are covered below, but please let us know if there is anything else you should do.
Hospitality grant
“We tried to increase lobbying in our industry to be recognized as part of the hotel industry. Although we have had some success, there have been few operations so far and we will fight until the guidelines are changed. For this reason, with the support of Mark Woolfenden (board member), we asked an experienced lobbyist for advice.
“After his advice last week, we asked certain members of Tory constituencies to write a personalized letter to their local MPs asking them to raise these concerns with finance ministers. The key to the success of the campaign is that members follow up on the letter and try to get copies of it so that we can contact the lobbyist directly with the minister. We were warned that there are so many lobbying activities at the moment that amount to hundreds of letters a day. We shouldn't be too optimistic, although he thought our case would be strong if we can reach the right audience. If you are asked to write a letter, follow up and keep the TSA administrator Emma up to date.
"We are also planning to send another open letter from the TSA to represent your case and put additional pressure on the government. We will share a copy of this letter and please forward it to your contacts in local and central governments, as well as in the mainstream press, so that we can again highlight the urgent needs of our industry. "
