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15501: Arthur replies to 15477: Raber (fwd)




From: Tttnhm@aol.com

In a message dated 5/8/2003 2:47:23 PM W. Europe Daylight Time, M. Raber
writes:

<< I am all for good wages for all workers around the world.  However? While
in Haiti Between 1995 and 2001, I witnessed a boycott against Disney clothing
made in Haiti and you know what happened?  The Minimum wage in Haiti stayed
the same and hundreds of workers lost their jobs for good when the factory
moved to a different country (I believe it was Santo Domingo but I am not
sure).  >>

Charles Arthur writes: I must disagree here. There was no boycott of Disney
clothing made in Haiti. The labour activists organising workers into unions
in the sweatshops producing Disney stuff were absolutely clear about this,
and made sure that international campaigners knew it.

I wonder if Raber has not just been listening to hear-say. After all, if he
was in Haiti from 1995-2000, how could he witness a boycott? - none of the
garments assembled in the Haitian sweatshops were on sale in Haiti. The whole
point is that they are just assembled there for sale on the North American
market.

The Disney sub-contractor, HH Cutler did indeed announce in 1997 that it was
relocating its orders to non-Haitian sub-contractors, and yes indeed the
Haitian assembly plant owners did take this opportunity to dismiss hundreds
of workers. However, the impact of the HH Cutler decision is overplayed, as
can be seen by the fact that the number of assembly plant jobs in
Port-au-Prince has stayed more or less the same throughout this period -
fluctuating around the 21,000 mark, if the figures are to be believed. In
fact, the hiring and firing of large numbers of assembly plant workers is
pretty much a regular occurence as factory owners seek to avoid their
obligations to pay the benefits that become due to longer-term employees.

Raber is right in saying that everyone in Haiti would benefit from more jobs
at higher wages. It is just a tragedy that those in a position to provide
jobs insist on sticking with dogged determination to the idea of scewing the
workers for the lowest possible wage. The recent decision to 'raise' the
minimum daily wage from 36 to a miserly 70 gourdes, corresponding as it did
with a period when the purchasing power of the gourde has dropped like a
stone, is a case in point.