Haiti: Civil society organisations call for an increase in the minimum wage and improvements in labour conditions

First of May, international workers' day
Haiti: Civil society organisations call for an increase in the minimum wage and improvements in labour conditions - 30 April 2008

Press release from several organisations(1) marking international workers' day, 1st May

On the occasion of the first of May, we, the undersigned organisations, salute all the workers of the world, in particular Haitian workers who are exploited in Haiti and abroad. This year the first of May finds workers here in Haiti toiling under the exploitation of bosses paying them just 70 gourdes a day. This year the first of May finds thousands of Haitian working like slaves in the neighbouring country. The application of neo-liberal policies, and the unequal distribution of wealth, labour, and produce, are obliging lots of workers to search for a living in other countries, despite the humiliations and poor working conditions they find there.

In Haiti, the conditions in the factories are a lot like the conditions of slavery. Workers don't have water to drink, have no access to healthcare, and after a day's work, often lasting more than eight hours, only get paid 70 gourdes. More than that, the bosses can do what they like with the workers. The bosses can sack them when they like, and the State institutions such as the Ministry of Social Affairs and the labour tribunals, are completely under the influence of the bosses.

The things that are happening today at SOHACOSA(2), under the management of Jean Paul Faubert, in the Sonapi Industrial Park, is a clear case in point. Jean Paul Faubert started sacking workers in December 2007, and then he closed down the factory, just like that, on 26 March 2008. Around 800 male and female workers were left unemployed. He simply attached a notice on the gate notifying them to go and collect their pay at the Labour department of the Ministry of Social Affairs. To this day, those workers have not been able to get what they are legally owed, in spite of several television and radio reports concerning this case.

... We the undersigned, profess our solidarity with these workers and support them in demanding Jean Paul Faubert (SOHACOSA) pay them what they are owed, to the last penny.

On the occasion of this 1st May, we take the opportunity to ask the State to apply a minimum wage of 300 gourdes per day instead of 70 gourdes, so that the working classes can survive this gnawing hunger. The current government must insist that the bosses put in place good working conditions, must force Jean Paul Faubert to pay the workers what he owes them, and must establish a proper reform of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the labour tribunals, so as to weed out all the bosses' lackeys who are in these institutions.

signed

Guy Numa - Democratic Popular Movement (MODEP)
Julien Sainvil - Gramsci Circle (SÈK Gramchi)
Moise Fritz Evens - Popular Ideas and Action Movement (MORAP)
Sylvain Jean (TET KOLE)
Marie Carme Louissaint - Revolutionary Workers' Organisation (OTR)
Louna Joseph (CHANDEL)
Yanick Etienne (BATAY OUVRIYE)

Translated from Creole by Charles Arthur and Anne McConnell for the Haiti Support Group - www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

(1) Mouvman Demokratik Popilè (MODEP), Sèk Gramchi, Mouvman Refleksyon ak Aksyon Popilè (MORAP), Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen, Oganizasyon Travayè Revolisyonè (OTR), CHANDEL, Batay Ouvriye

(2) SOHACOSA: Société Haitienne de Couture SA.