16876: Blanchet: Fw: From Edmonton, Canada, to Ouanaminthe, Haiti: two sides of globalisation. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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



> Haiti Support Group press release - From Edmonton, Canada, to Ouanaminthe,
> Haiti: two sides of the same 'globalisation coin'. 2 October 2003
>
> Canadian workers made redundant - Haitian workers fired for complaining
about
> work conditions.
>
> The common thread? - Levi Strauss jeans.
>
> 1. On September 25, 2003, the Levi Strauss company announced that in March
> 2004 it would be shutting three Canadian plants -  two sewing facilities
in
> Edmonton and Stoney Creek, Ontario, as well as a finishing centre in
Brantford,
> Ontario - leading to the loss of 1,180 jobs. The company is also shutting
down
> facilities in Texas. A company spokesperson said that clothing production
is
> being shifted overseas, a move necessary for it to "stay competitive".
>
> 2. On September 30 2003, the Levi Strauss company announced a US$26.7
million
> quarterly profit. The jeans maker said the launch of a discount line of
> clothing helped it almost double its earnings from the US$13.7 million it
made in
> the same quarter a year ago. The company's sales were US$1.08 billion, up
from
> US$1.02 billion last year.
>
> 3. In August 2003, the first factory opened at a new free trade zone on
the
> Maribahoux Plain, near Ouanaminthe in north-east Haiti. Three hundred
workers
> were hired to assemble Levi Strauss jeans in the first of three factories
to
> be built by the Dominican company, Grupo M, on a 150,000m2 site. This is
the
> first phase of a larger 'Haiti Zona Franca Project' covering a 500,000m2
site
> on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
>
> 4. On September 23, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation
(IFC)
> director, Peter Woicke met representatives of the International
Confederation
> of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in Dubai. Woicke told the ICFTU that in
future
> the IFC would include core labour standards, including workers right to
> organise themselves, in loan agreements. When pressed on the need to
include this
> right in a pending US$23 million loan agreement to help the Dominican
Grupo M
> company develop its factories in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, Woicke reaffirmed the
IFC
> position that the codes of conduct held by Grupo M's clients, including
Levi
> Strauss, meant that this was not necessary. Presented with evidence of the
> repression of unions in existing Grupo M factories in the Dominican
Republic, he
> said he and his staff would consider making union rights part of the Grupo
> M/Ouanaminthe loan deal.
>
> 5. On September 30, the British solidarity organisation, the Haiti Support
> Group, published an update on the situation at the free zone on the
Maribahoux
> Plain, near Ouanaminthe. Based in information supplied by the Haitian
> organisation, Groupe d'Appui aux Rapatries et Refugies - GARR, the Haiti
Support Group
> reported that campaigners worst fears about workers' rights have been
realised
> with the news that the 300 employees in the Grupo M factory in the
> Ouanaminthe free zone have been forbidden to organise themselves or
discuss politics
> while inside the zone. Furthermore, the International Finance
Corporation's
> optimism regarding Grupo M's respect for workers' rights has been shown to
be
> completely misplaced as, within weeks of the first factory opening, twenty
workers
> have been fired for daring to ask for improved conditions.
>
> (For background information on this controversial project and the World
> Bank's IFC plan to finance it with a US$23million loan, see the Haiti
Support Group
> web
> site: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org).
>
>
> ______________________________________________
>
>
> This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.
>
> See the Haiti Support Group web site:
> www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org
>
> Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
> democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
> ____________________________________________
>