16998: Behindthelabel.org: Labor Abuses At CINTAS Producing Factory in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Batay Ouvriye <batayouvriye@hotmail.com>

Labor Abuses At CINTAS Producing Factory in Haiti - View full story at
http://www.behindthelabel.org

"They lock the gates on us and sometimes put security guards out in front
with rifles to prevent us from leaving," said Jacqueline, as she described
the method her employer uses to force workers to work over 10 hours a day
without compensation. "The supervisors would yell and curse at us to finish
our quota. My daily quota is sewing 90 dozen zippers on pants for 80 gourds
(~$2 USD)."
Jacqueline works for a Cintas subcontractor, Haitian American Apparel Co.
S.A. (or as workers call it, HAACOSA). She estimates that she is just one of
1500 workers who make uniforms for Cintas, and whose daily reality is
working in conditions that are in severe violation of Haitian Labor Codes
and International Labor Standards, as well as Cintas' own Code of Conduct.
Jacqueline, a 42-year-old mother of four, lives in a one room shack in Cite
Soleil, one of the most impoverished and dangerous urban slums of
Port-au-Prince – no running water, sewage, or electricity. "I begin work at
6:30am and normally finish my quota by 5pm," she began.
"The factory gets so hot it is like working in fire. Inside the air is so
hot and full of dust that I can't breathe, so I would put my handkerchief
around my nose and continue working," she said. "HAACOSA doe not have any
purified water for us to drink. Instead, there is a tub of water that, I
think, is rainwater or something because it is smelly and dirty. I think
supervisors pee in the water because it smells so bad." When asked if she
drinks the water, she responded, "I have to, I don't have money to buy
water."
Worker after worker were to describe the same wretched conditions inside the
factory. Patrick, a 26-year-old HAACOSA worker said, "The heat and dust and
noise and the pace of work become so overwhelming, workers just faint at
their machines. I don't know if it's out of exhaustion, heat, or
dehydration. All the supervisors do is throw water on them until the worker
gets up and then the supervisors tell them to get back to work."
"The worst part of working at HAACOSA is that the supervisors don't know how
to respect workers. They constantly yell and curse at us to meet quota and
to work faster. If you complained about working overtime or about the heat
or dust or water, they would just tell you to go home and not come back.
What can we do?"
As if paying less than the legal minimum of $0.22 per hour was not bad
enough (cost of living in Haiti is 3 times the legal minimum wage), the
forced overtime, firings without due process, loan-shark activities by the
general manager and supervisors, and dangerous health and safety conditions
like no ventilation, no access to purified drinking water, and frequent
puncture wounds due to the lack of security guards on sewing machines make
the conditions in HAACOSA one of the worst in the Western Hemisphere.
Cintas is the largest uniform rental provider and industrial launderer in
North America and has enjoyed 34 years of consecutive growth. Sales in 2002
were U.S. $2.27 billion and profits were $234 million. During an annual
Cintas shareholders meeting on October 14th, a proposal by Walden Asset
Management and Domini Social Investments asking the board to report on the
compliance of offshore vendors, like HAACOSA, with the company's code of
conduct was rejected.
When Timothy Smith, Walden's senior vice president, disclosed the labor
violations being practiced at HAACOSA, Cintas responded by saying that they
had NEVER heard of HAACOSA. However, business documents, workers'
testimonies, and Cintas labels provided by HAACOSA workers tell another
story. Under Cintas' Code of Conduct, Cintas has a responsibility to ensure
that labor rights are respected in their subcontracted facilities.
This is not the first time Cintas, the largest uniform rental provider and
industrial launderer in the nation, is being charged with not ensuring the
rights of its' workers. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration
(OSHA) has cited Cintas for over 100 health and safety violations, including
two on-the-job fatalities. Currently there is a 15-state class action
lawsuit against Cintas for failing to pay overtime to its employees.
There are a growing number of people and institutions that are telling
Cintas to clean up its act. For example, university students are taking
action to get their schools to stop doing business with Cintas until Cintas
respects workers' rights. The HAACOSA situation should indicate to the
public that there is an endemic practice of disrespecting workers' rights at
Cintas, both within their U.S. facilities and their subcontracted facilities
abroad.