18305: erzilidanto: Fw: Andre Apaid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Erzilidanto@aol.com

Subj:   André Apaid
Date:   Thursday, February 5, 2004 9:00:55 PM
From:   Kakadjab


To further understand the background of André Apaid and the Group of
184, here is an excerpt of a report I had provided photographs for.
Published in January of 1996 by the National Labor Committee "THE
U.S. IN HAITI How to Get Rich on 11 Cents an Hour" describes the
appalling conditions in Apaid's factories.

...Alpha Sewing [owned by the Apaid family] produces industrial
gloves for Ansell Edmont of Coshocton, Ohio, which is owned by Ansell
International of Lilburn, Georgia, which in turn is owned by Pacific
Dunlop Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia.  Ansell Edmont boasts in its
promotional literature that it is the world's largest manufacturer of
safety gloves and protective clothing, but the workers at Alpha
Sewing do not have even the most basic safety protection.  They
produce Ansell Edmont's "Vinyl-Impregnated Super-Flexible STD" gloves
with bare hands; Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), the chemical that toughens
the glove, also takes off layers of skin.  And the dust from the
production of the "Vinyl-Coated Super Comfort Seams-Rite" gloves
gives many workers respiratory problems.  Hours at the plant are from
6 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Saturday, and often from 6 am to 3:30
pm on Sunday as well--a 78-hour work week. Approximately 75% of the
workers make less than the minimum wage.  In April, 1995, a worker
who refused to work on Sunday so that he could go to church was
fired.  When he returned to pick up his severance pay, the manager
called the UN police and reported a burglar on the premises.  The UN
police arrived and promptly handcuffed the worker.  After protests
from the other employees, the UN police finally let the worker go.
The next day, management began firing, three at a time, four at a
time, all those workers who had protested the arrest.

...Alpha Sewing is owned by the Apaid family, led by André Apaid, a
notorious Duvalierist.  When asked at a business conference in Miami
soon after the coup in 1991 what he would do if President Aristide
returned to Haiti, Apaid replied vehemently, "I'd strangle him!" At
the time, Apaid was heading up USAID's PROMINEX business promotion
project, a $12.7 million program to encourage U.S. and Canadian firms
to move their businesses to Haiti....


The full report sans images can be found at:
http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/Haiti/0196/index.shtml