22358: Harvey Re: 22352: Vilaire: On the Grupo M Debacle (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Sean Harvey <seanharvey@juno.com>

I think it's clear that Batey Ouvriye's strategy in trying to obtain
better wages and health care for workers had something to do with Grupo M
pulling out. Another factor was no doubt the insane political unrest and
the instability in the area -- several Dominicans have been kidnapped and
held in Ouanaminthe in the past months along the border and there's
clearly no safety or stability to run a business. While I certainly
wouldn't want to demonize Batey Ouvriye or any other worker's union, I
think they may have been a little heavy handed in their strategy, and the
end result is that a lot of people now do not have much needed jobs that
they had until last week. Who knows -- maybe free zone jobs like that
aren't worth it, the land would have been better used for agriculture,
maybe not. But I think it's misleading to say the least to try to say
that Batey Ouvriye's strategy was not a huge component in the sudden
closure of the Grupo M facility, after the company had put millions of
dollars into the project.

And what's the alternative? Subsistence farming? Haiti doesn't have the
infrastructure or security right now for better paying, high tech factory
jobs like they have in Costa Rica.

In the Dominican Republic they have many of these free zones -- and yes,
unionization and the rights of workers has been a bone of contention --
but they do provide much needed cash to people (even if it's not enough
cash and they still don't have health care) and empower women by giving
them more of the household's earning power.

Why do these companies stay in the Dominican Republic and not Haiti? 1)
no chronic military coups, armed partisan gangs and political upheaval --
the political parties don't like each other and engage in "dirty tricks"
but they typically don't assault one another in the streets, and
Presidents serve their full terms even if they're incompetent (for
example, the unbelievably incompetent "Hurricane Hipolito" Mejia 2) while
there have been labor battles in the Dominican Republic, sometimes
resulting in better wages and treatment of the workers, the Dominican
labor leaders appear to have come up with better strategies that don't
lead to the company pulling up the stakes and shutting down.

My amateur two cents -- I'm not an economist and don't ultimately know
whether free zone jobs lead to any sustainable economic development or
not.

Sean