Victory for Haitian Workers in Free Trade Zone!

Continued Vigilance is Necessary for Recently Won Labor Rights

Posted April 23, 2004
This information comes to us from Batay Ouvriye.

Workers at the Codevi factory in the free trade zone near Ouanaminthe, Haiti, on the border with the Dominican Republic, have won a concrete victory in the fight for workers' rights. After the illegal firing and physical abuse of 34 workers in March, the workers' union, SOKOWA, along with Batay Ouvriye, Haiti Support Group, Réseau-Solidarité - Peuples Solidaires, Workers' Rights Consortium, Campaign for Labor Rights, Maquila Solidarity Network, Clean Clothes Campaign, as well as local and governmental forces, effectively pressured the owners to re-hire the workers and take action for true workers' rights in the factory.

The final negotiations took place on Tuesday, April 13, and included representatives from SOKOWA, Batay Ouvriye, WRC, along with a tripartite delegation of the Social Affairs Labor Ministry, the Labor Sector, and the Association of Haitian Industrialists. They met with representatives from the Codevi FTZ, the World Bank, and Levi-Strauss. The meeting obtained these concessions from the management: reinstatement of all the workers in the conflict, payment of medical services of the worker who had been most severely beaten, payment for the time they spent without work according to the present minimum salary, recognition of union rights within the factory and, finally, immediate negotiations with a union delegation to discuss the workers' general demands.

As Batay Ouvriye writes: "A concrete victory, therefore, has been obtained. Not only for the workers in conflict, but also for all those in the factory; not only for them, but also for all those who will be later called to work there; not only for this future group but also for those who will be called to defend their rights in free trade zone territories throughout Haiti, as well as in the rest of dominated countries and in the whole world. This first victory in the first confrontation in this first Haitian free trade zone thus marks an important point in the working classes' struggle internationally, especially when one considers international solidarity's vital support. It is thus a victory for us all. But this success becomes even more fundamental when we consider that it was the determination of the workers themselves, in the field, and their own independent struggle that was the true motor of the entire mobilization."

As always, the fulfillment of these gains will only be achieved by a constant effort on the part of the workers and solidarity movements. Already, the management has tried to delay the re-hiring of workers (making them wait for a work post at the Training Center) and attempted to re-issue the workers' badges (which would cause them to lose their seniority, restrain their movements within the factory, as well as jeopardize their job security). Worst of all, there have been explicit threats against the members of Batay Ouvriye and other support groups who have worked to bring about these achievements.

Stay posted to act again in solidarity with these workers' struggle! Don't let the management leave their promises unfulfilled!

The mobilization is thus still active and the struggle has just begun!