22349: Mason Re: 22340: Durban: on the Grupo M plant Closing (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MariLinc@aol.com

Lance Durban (lpdurban@yahoo.com) asked of Charles Arthur and folks from
Batay Ouvriye regarding the loss of 700 Haitian jobs at the Grupo M plant on the
Dominican-Haiti border:

"What do [you] have to offer the 700 workers who no longer even have those
crummy sewing industry jobs?  Being instrumental in the loss of employment for
these workers, it would be nice to see what alternatives Batay Ouvriye will now
propose.  Maybe planting corn on the plant site?  I seem to recall that loss
of the agricultural land under the factory was another of their concerns."


I'm not Charles Arthur, nor am I from Batay Ouvriye, but I'd like to ask
these questions of Lance Durban:

- Are you honestly saying that complaining about inadequate pay and working
conditions makes Charles Arthur and Batay Ouvriye responsible for the loss of
these jobs???

- We're all supposed to shut up about worker injustices just to keep such
underpaid, unsafe work conditions jobs open???


And back to Lance's reference to agricultural concerns about the land upon
which the Grupo M plant was built, I have these additional questions:

- If the agricultural land had not been leveled and surfaced over with
cement, might it be that the recent floods might not have been so destructive in
that area???

- Might the plant actually have been closed because of financial losses from
flood damage, rather than from Charles Arthur's or Batay Ouvriye's objections
about working conditions at Grupo M???

Marilyn

************************************************
Marilyn Mason
P.O. Box 181015
Boston, Massachusetts 02118 USA
Tel: (+1) 617-247-8885
Email: MariLinc@aol.com
Marilyn Mason Bio & Publication List:
http://hometown.aol.com/marilinc/Index3.html
Creole Links Page:
http://hometown.aol.com/mit2haiti/Index4.html
The Creole Clearinghouse:
http://hometown.aol.com/CreoleCH/Index6.html