22360: Durban: Responding on Grupo M Closure (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Mason (22349), Simidor (22351), and Marx-Vilaire (22352) offer
some comments that merit a response.  First off, Marilyn Mason
asks:

  - 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???

If you can believe Grupo M, as reported by Batay Ouvriyé's
General Secretary, Neil Kearney (in Corbett 22339), Grupo M
claims to be leaving because of physical threats made by Batay
Ouvriyé to their employees.  My guess is that it goes quite a
bit beyond that.  Batay Ouvriyé is quite aware that bad press in
the U.S. is anathema to Levi Strauss, Grand Marnier, and other
consumer "brand names".  If Grupo M's decision is truly final,
odds are good that the plug got pulled by their customer, Levi
Strauss, who ultimately decides where to place its orders.  Or
perhaps Grupo M simply decided that the THREAT of losing the
Levi Strauss account was just too risky for their existing
business in the DR.  So, regrettably, to answer your question
above, "Yes".  There simply has to be a better way to "complain
about pay and working conditions", that doesn't result in the
loss of all the jobs.  Of course, since Batay Ouvriyé doesn't
really care about low paid factory jobs in the first place, any
crocodile tears they shed now at the plant's closing somehow
fails to impress me.  As their name implies, Neil Kearney's
group is more interested in fighting than solving problems.  His
political battle won, you can bet Mr. Kearney not going to spend
too much time worrying about the newly unemployed workers.
(After "winning" the battle that closed the 100 year old orange
peel factory of Grand Marnier a couple years ago, has Batay
Ouriye given any further thought to those laid off workers?)

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

No, but killing the patient is a poor way to treat cancer.  The
best approach is to establish clear and unambiguous national
standards, monitored on a regular basis by the Ministry of
Social Affairs.  There is no reason why international union
groups couldn't target meaningful support to this under-staffed,
under-financed Ministry, which, in my experience, does its best
to represent the workers in most labor-management disputes.

Helping U.S. customers (Levi-Strauss, Penney's, Target, etc.)
evaluate sub-contractors is another approach that would work.
Independent evaluating firms have already sprung up in the
States to "rate" sub-contractors like Grupo M for their U.S.
clients.  Penney's, to cite another approach, has its own
in-house sub-contractor rating system, with unannounced factory
visits to ensure that working conditions are not going to give
the company a black eye (They're really concerned about underage
workers among other things!).  An effective union should be
aware of, and educate its members on, what the customer's
standards are.  In extreme cases of abuse, the union could
report back in a calm and non-confrontational manner to (say)
Levi-Strauss, San Francisco, who would almost surely be
interested to learn of "shenanigans" (to quote Marx-Vilaire)
pulled by its local subcontractor.

  - 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???

Recent flooding was in Jimani and points south.  I have not
heard that the Grupo M plant, located farther north, suffered
any flood damage.

However, though the environmentalists on this list may cringe, I
cannot believe that the land used by one mere industrial park
could be put to better use for agricultural purposes.  This does
not mean that agriculture has become passé as Marx-Vilaire
fears.    Indeed, agricultural development is almost a
prerequisite to development of the economy, but let's look at
the economic output per hectare.  If the country has the
opportunity to turn one piddly chunk of land into a functioning
industrial park employing several thousand people... each of
whom will earn (believe it or not) far more than the average
peasant farmer, well then, let's plant the cornfield somewhere
else!

Simidor and Marx-Vilaire continue to berate the assembly sector
and the Grupo M project in particular without offering much of
an alternative.  But what alternatives can be offered to employ
large numbers of uneducated people?  For what it's worth, my
feeling is that somehow Haiti needs to better learn to take
advantage of its close proximity to the large U.S. market.

Few people in Haiti are even thinking of the U.S. market, and
part of the reason for that is that return on capital invested
in the export sector is far from impressive.  That should be
evident from looking at where people in Haiti are investing.
Although statistics are probably impossible to find, it's pretty
clear that local investment has gone into importing, gas
stations, local construction, banking, telephone services, and
some very limited manufacturing for local consumption
(cosmetics, re-packaging operations, etc.).

Finally, Marx-Vilaire's contention (22352) that the assembly
sector is a poor tool in the struggle to develop misses the
point that the assembly business is merely one part of
industrialization.  Would he then suggest that Haiti fore-go
industrialization entirely and perhaps concentrate on planting
more mango trees?

There is no reason why a Haitian national can't design clothing,
establish a local company, buy fabric, cut and assemble the
pieces in Haiti, and sell the finished garment directly to the
Walmarts of the world.  There is no reason why a Haitian company
couldn't design and build a line of successful Christmas tree
ornaments or a windshield wiper for next year's Ford Explorer.

And finally, even the humble assembly plant DOES train people,
not only on how to use a sewing machine, but in the myriad of
other functions that go with any industrial undertaking:
supervising, accounting, payroll, material management, reading a
print (engineering), machine shop, and last but certainly not
least, sales and customer relations.

Lance Durban