15870: Blanchet: Fw: ICFTU report on Haiti in 2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

The climate of violence and insecurity that prevails in the country,
exacerbated by the criminal manoeuvres of the Lavalas Family (Fanmi Lavalas)
leaders
and groups close to the government, remained an insurmountable obstacle to
trade union rights’ recognition. Employers can act with complete impunity
and
groups acting on behalf of the ruling party have repeatedly attacked trade
unionists.

THE LEGISLATION

Prior authorisation

Despite the fact that the Constitution drawn up in 1987, after the fall of
the Duvalier regime, recognises freedom of association in all sectors and
the
right to strike, the Labour Code dates back to the former dictatorship. Just
10
members are needed to form a union, however the Penal Code requires prior
authorisation by the government for any association of over 20 people to be
founded, if the latter is to enjoy the relevant tax benefits and obtain
government
recognition.

No protection

The law does not protect unions and their members against anti-union
discrimination in recruitment procedures and does not provide for the
reinstatement of
unfairly-dismissed union members.

RIGHTS IN PRACTICE

Weak enforcement

The enforcement of labour legislation is very weak, if not totally
ineffective. Despite a provision in the Labour Code, the government has
never fined an
employer for interfering in a union’s internal affairs. As a result of the
political chaos, the climate of violence and a record unemployment rate,
employers
are enjoying absolute freedom. Union rights, like collective bargaining, are
in practice non-existent. The unions have complained of a slow and
inefficient
procedure when bringing disputes before industrial tribunals.

Intimidation and impunity

Those trying to organise workers in a union are subjected to constant
threats. Those carrying out the many acts of violence throughout 2002 have
enjoyed
impunity, if they are close to those in power or if the victim is viewed as
a
government opponent.

EVENTS IN 2002

Political and economic background

The climate of political tension and violence continued during the year in
the Western hemisphere’s poorest country. Attempts at unionising and
expressing
any form of opposition to the government’s policies were severely repressed.
The so-called “Chimères” – a kind of “Tontons Macoutes” in the pay of the
ruling Fanmi Lavalas party – terrorise everyone who criticises President
Aristide’s policies. They have politicians, journalists and trade unionists
in their
ranks.

murdered
More anti-union violence at Guacimal

Anti-union discrimination has continued in the plantation and factory of the
Guacimal company, which produces bitter oranges for Cointreau. A new
outburst
of violence occurred in May, after the landowners at the Guacimal orange
plantation announced that the recently unionised workers there would no
longer be
allowed to farm the land in the off-season. Since 1958, there had been an
agreement between plantation workers and landowners in Haiti that workers
could
farm the land off-season to produce enough food for themselves between
picking
seasons.

On May 27, workers belonging to the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers’ Union
supported by Batay Ouvriyè union members, assembled at the Guacimal company
plantation, to stake their claims to plots. There, they were met by a group
representing a local landowner, close to the Guacimal company management,
and which
included two Fanmi Lavalas officials from the local council. Without any
provocation, the group attacked the workers and peasants with machetes,
clubs and
guns, and the workers and peasants threw stones in defence. Many people were
seriously injured.

Union supporters murdered

Two elderly members of Batay Ouvriyè, Francilien Exime and Ipharès Guerrier,
who had come from a nearby village to show their solidarity, but who had not
taken part in the fighting, were discovered hiding in a house. The attackers
took them out of the house, tied them up and dragged them to the plantation.
There, they mutilated them with knives, beheaded them and dumped their
bodies in
a hole.

Houses of union leaders burnt

In the days that followed, the houses of union leaders in the area were
burnt
to the ground, and arrest warrants for some 20 people associated with the
union were issued by the local judge. All those connected with the union
were
obliged to leave the area, and seek sanctuary in the city of Cap-Haitien.

Arrests 1

Eleven people were arrested following the violence, including six Batay
Ouvriyè union members and two journalists covering the events. The Fanmi
Lavalas
mayor of St. Raphael claimed that the local police had detained the eleven
on
his advice because he knew them to be “terrorists”. Mario Dupuy, the
Secretary
of State for Communications, announced that the violence had been caused by
Batay Ouvriyè and others who opposed the government’s plan to create free
trade
zones in the border region.

Union members held without charge

On May 29, the eleven detainees were unlawfully transferred by helicopter to
the National Penitentiary and to Fort National, two prisons in the capital
city, Port-au-Prince, in violation of the local judiciary’s preroga- tives.
Following a mobilisation campaign led by journalist and human rights
protection
organisations, the two journalists were released on June 8, while the others
were
kept imprisoned for nearly three months, without any charges being brought
against them. Seven people were released on August 20, after a third picket
organised by Batay Ouvriyè and other organisations. Two unionists, Urbain
Garçon
and Jéremie Dorvil, were maintained in detention, and finally released on
December 2, after the authorities gave in under union pressure, with support
from
the ICFTU.

By the end of the year however, no judicial proceedings had been instituted
against the perpetrators of these serious incidents, including the deaths of
the two trade unionists. On the contrary, they continued to move around
freely,
pressurising the unionists who showed up at the plantation at the beginning
of
the new harvest. Trade union rights were still flouted and the Guacimal
company persistently refused to meet the enterprise union.

Political violence against trade unionists

On June 19, Pepe Jean Getro, General Secretary of a Haitian Teachers Union
(Groupe d’Initiative des Enseignants des Lycées (GIEL)) and member of the
Haitian Trade Union Coordination Group (CSH), was violently attacked by
security
guards of a local banking cooperative. They accused him of being a trade
union
activist aiming to destabilise the government by leading strikes. After they
beat and knocked him to the floor, they placed a gun by his side and called
the
police to accuse him of attempted murder. He was eventually released from
prison two days later when the crude attempted set-up came to light. During
these
two days in prison he was beaten and tortured so severely that he was forced
to
spend the next ten days in hospital recovering from internal lesions and a
shattered eardrum. The Haitian government has done nothing to bring the
culprits
to justice.

On September 23, an armed group led by local officials, including the school
headmaster and the mayor of Cabaret, burst into the Cabaret secondary
school.
Pepe Jean Getro and two other teachers were holding a meeting to readmit 37
pupils who had been thrown out for protesting against corporal punishment at
school. The armed men dragged the teachers out into the schoolyard, slipped
tyres
around their necks, and tried to set them on fire. The teachers were saved
just in time by the police, who had been alerted by a group of pupils. The
teachers lodged a complaint against the aggressors, but the latter remained
free.
The teachers subsequently had to go into hiding after intensified death
threats.

Another union leader, Josué Mérilien, General Coordinator of the Union
Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti (UNNOH), has been constantly harassed by
the legal
authorities after he criticised the government’s authoritarian use of power,
particularly in the education sector. He was accused of drug trafficking,
after
the police planted a quantity of narcotics inside his vehicle.

Rosemond Jean, another union leader, committed to the same struggle as Josué
Mérilien, was punched and arrested illegally. He is still in prison, even
after an 11-day hunger strike. An armed gang arrested, hit, humiliated and
threatened his doctor with death. His family, wife and five children have
had to
leave their home, as they were being persecuted.

On December 3, a group of 10 members of the “OP Chimères Lavalas” reportedly
severely beat up Fignolé Saint-Cyr, Secretary General of the Centrale
Autonome des Travailleurs Haitiens (CATH), in front of the Foreign Office
building,
while he was participating in a demonstration to commemorate the first
anniversary of the killing of journalist Brignol Lindor.