16886: tou dwa: Gilden (?) factory

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: tou dwat <tou_dwat@hotmail.com>


Does anybody have info on the Gilden (Glidan ?) factory in Haïti ? How much
they pay , union wise, condtion ect ...

On  there web site, it mentionnes it treats its employee with above average
(and legal) conditions....

Don'T have their financial statements, but a girl friend of mine just made a
few hours of shopping sprea in NY with the owners' wife private plane..

Potentially interesting regarding the canadian attitude towards haitian
politics... particulary when considering the positive effect Quebecs' unions
had, not long ago, on the the community indenty and economic emmancipation...

If the info on gilden is too senstive, please send at least some leads...

regards







>From: Bob Corbett
>To: Haiti mailing list
>Subject: 16876: Blanchet: Fw: From Edmonton, Canada, to Ouanaminthe, Haiti:
two sides of globalisation. (fwd)
>Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 11:34:33 -0500 (CDT)
>
>
>From: Max Blanchet
>From:
>
>
>
> > 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.
> > ____________________________________________
> >
>

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