14860: Simidor re: the Haitian minimum wage (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: karioka9@arczip.com

On 17 Feb 2003 at 14:56, Jean Succar <succarj@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>
> ... rather than advertising wage increase which whatever its
> magnitude (which will be very limited) will not make any significant
> differences in the lives of the poor people, the government should be
> more focused on establishing a plan to combat inflation and exchange
> rate increase.
>
Mr. Succar is right in the sense that Lavalas' posturing as a
government on the side of the workers is absolutely infuriorating,
considering how detrimental its economic mismanagement has been
to the working class.

Lavalas is upholding its new minimum wage of 70 gourdes for a day's
work as a major victory for Haiti's labor force, when in reality it
represents less than half of the US $3.00 a day negociated by Baby
Doc's government in the 1970s for workers in the "Parc Industriel."  In
my recollection, Haitian employers pleaded that they couldn't afford
the new minimum wage.  So the government instituted a two-tier
minimum wage, arguing that the assembly sector could well afford the
$3 minimum which amounted to less than 15% of the US minimum
wage.

I remember that period quite well because it created a big influx in the
capital of young working men and women from the provinces.  This
was the heyday of Jean-Claudism, then perceived as a somewhat
modern, progressive and less brutal version of Duvalierism redux.

In comparison to that period 30 years ago, the new minimum wage set
by Lavalas is a major setback for the Haitian working class.  At 70
gourdes for a day's work, it amounts to less than 5% of the current US
minimum wage.  Maybe the storeowner, the water-bottling plant or the
small hotel on the verge of bankrupcy in Petionville, cannot afford
more than 70 gourdes, but there is no reason why the new trade
zones alongside the border should not pay the equivalent of what
Baby Doc negotiated successfully 30 years: 12 to 15% of the US
minimum wage.  I'm talking of an adjusted minimum wage of about
US $5 per day (250 gourdes at today's rates) in the assembly plants
that produce directly for the US market.

This is not as crazy as it may sound at first.  The Haitian assembly
industry is about to see better days if a bill sponsored by Sen. Mike
DeWine comes to pass.  This bill would exempt Haitian businesses
from paying a US import tax when buying their fabric from countries
other than the US. This new bill would make Haiti competitive with
some of the Asian countries, and could create up to 60,000 new jobs
in the garment sector.  Those new jobs will not have the desired ripple
effect in the Haitian economy, however, if they don't come with a living
wage.

Of course, Lavalas will first have to clean up its act (less corruption,
insecurity and demagoguery) in order for this to become a reality.

Daniel Simidor