22656: radtimes: Haiti Free Trade Zone Update! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

Haiti Free Trade Zone Update!

http://www.campaignforlaborrights.org/alerts/2004/june20-haiti.htm

Workers at Codevi FTZ still fighting injustice!

Information for this alert comes from the Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Fight)

Please take action today in support of Codevi workers in Haiti. These
workers, who produce garments for Levi Strauss, have had a serious ongoing
labor dispute with factory management and though an agreement was reached
in April, they are presently confronted with severe violence. Following a
one day strike on June 8, workers were locked-out and urgently need your
support.
SUMMARY

After a representative of the SOKOWA union was fired and brutally beaten up
in February 2004, factory workers at the Codevi Free Trade Zone in
Ouanaminthe stopped working in protest. The conflict worsened in early
March when 33 trade union members were attacked and illegally dismissed
from the factory. Workers at the factory were reportedly attacked several
times by management-hired rebel thugs and by the Dominican army. Following
an international campaign in support of the workers, negotiations in April
lead to an agreement between management and the workers. In mid-May all
workers were back to work but still the SOKOWA union had not been legally
recognized by the Haitian government. A breach of the agreement led to a
one-hour warning strike on Thursday, June 4 when all workers stopped work.
The following day, the head of Grupo M arrived at the plant to tell workers
that the plant would probably shut down. In the afternoon, management
called in the Dominican Army to expel workers from the free trade zone,
after another dispute had developed after management forcibly removed the
t-shirts and ID badges of a group of women. Haitian death squad members
have reportedly been circulating in Ouanaminthe. A full day of strike took
place on Monday June 7. Workers agreed to return to work on Tuesday June 8
despite the continuing presence of the Dominican Army on-site, because
management had agreed to negotiate with the union. When workers showed up
to work at 5:30am , however, they found that they were locked-out.

This factory was set up with financing from the World Bank that was
conditional upon respect for trade union rights!

Please take action today to demand that Dominican Army Forces are withdrawn
immediately and permanently from the Codevi FTZ; that all violence against
workers ceases and all management personnel found to have committed a
violent act against a worker is disciplined; that Grupo M negotiates in
good faith with SOKOWA and Bataye Ouvriye (an association of unions,
committees, and workers from the industrial, agricultural, and info rmal
economy in Haiti that has been supporting the union in this case) and
ceases to threaten closure; that the IFC and Levi's demand that the Haitian
government give SOKOWA its legal registration, as required by law; and that
Levi's does not cut and run.
Write letters to Grupo M:

Fernando Capellan
Ouanaminthe factory general director
e-mail: fcapellan@grupom.com.do

Limbert Cruz
Grupo M CEO
e-mail: lcruz@grupom.com.do
To Levi-Strauss:

Michael Kobori
Director, Global Code of Conduct
Levi Strauss & Co.
1155 Battery St.
San Francisco , CA 94111
Tel: (415)501-1459
Fax: (415)501-1485
e-mail: mkobori@levi.com

Cc: Miriam Rodriguez, Regional Compliance Manager
e-mail: Mrodriguez@levi.com

Thank Levi Strauss for the attention they have given this matter so far,
but info rm them that the Codevi Ouanaminthe workers have been confronted
with violence again.
To the World Bank:

The World Bank's International Finance Corporation
Mark Constantine
E-mail: mconstantine@ifc.org

E-mail: bmcnamara@ifc.org
To the Haitian government:

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor
Pierre Calixte
#32 rue de l'Enterrement
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Prime Minister
M. Gerard Latortue
Beureau de las Primature, Villa d'Accueil
Musseau, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Write to the Haitian government to express your concern about the situation
at the Codevi Free Trade Zone and urge the Haitian government to give
SOKOWA its legal registration, as required by law and to ensure that
workers are able to exercise their rights to freedom of association and
bargain collectively.

For additional details, contact batay@batayouvriye.org.

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