23487: (Arthur) No more Sweatshops ! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

London - European Social Forum report: Les Penelopes October 2004

http://www.penelopes.org/Anglais/xarticle.php3?id_article=1141

No more Sweatshops !

A Haitian union organizer and her Belgium counterpart at a workshop devoted to building opposition against sweatshops spoke of their struggle for better work conditions and observance of international labor standards. They used similar strategies but with different outcomes. One was successful and the other one's efforts might still end in failure.

Both women spoke at the workshop "Worker's Rights, Human Rights – Taking on Poverty and Sweatshops from Eastern Europe to the Global South" organized by UK-based organization "No Sweat".

The Belgium union activist was telling a success story in pressuring the well-known company manufacturing women's underwear in her country to help improve the very bad situation of workers producing its products in Hungary, China and Indonesia. The company has a good reputation and hence became supportive of the call not to spoil its popular image.

The situation in Haiti however has not been solved yet in a successful way, although the Haitian company is producing for Levi's.

One of the speakers, Yannick Etienne, is an outspoken union organizer from Haiti who decided to fight the terrible work conditions in the factory located in Free Trade Zone in a remote area close to the border of the Dominican Republic. "We are the poorest country in the world" said Yannick, explaining why nobody cares about workers' basic rights. Before starting her story she added :" but beyond our misery we have a lot to offer in the struggle for humanity to change the world".

The World Bank financed the Free Trade Zone in Haiti, welcomed a company producing for Levis and attracted starving people, promising them a salary that was double the minimum wage in Haiti. But instead of 140 dollars a month they received half of the minimum salary.

They also had to work long hours without any payment for the extra time they spend in the factory. In addition to that they were in danger of getting sacked if they dared complain.

Thanks to the efforts of Yannick, 50 people joined the trade union to fight for their rights and 24 of those unionists were almost immediately fired. The union activities continued over a year and helped build a network of support in Haiti and in the world. However, they are still far from succeeding in getting better work conditions. What's even worse is that people are loosing jobs and the company might relocate to neighboring Dominican Republic, or even to China or wherever the labor force is cheaper and does not complain. The workers from the Haitian company put their hopes and expectations in Levi's pride of having "one of the best codes of conducts in the world", believing that they would put pressure on their subcontractors in Haiti to behave and that support from NGO groups and trade unions around the world will help them win.

In the meantime, Yannick is appealing to the audience at the workshop for financial support for those who are laid off. But how long can such a support last ?

Many workers around the world face a difficult choice : either they fight for better labour conditions and the company relocates to a different country or different city or they suffer silently, lose their health and even sometimes life for completely inadequate pay that just allows them to survive. This is primarily the fate of women - whether in the South or in Eastern Europe.

However, neither of the speakers mentioned the fact that women constitute the majority of sweatshop workers. Only one person from the floor, at the end of the workshop, mentioned that it is mostly women who work in horrible conditions often for more than 12 hours a day.

Check out the Haiti Support Group at haitisupport.gn.apc.org/fea_campaign_index.html
Read about No Sweat at nosweat.org.uk

 Malgorzata Tarasiewicz- October 16, 2004


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Forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for human rights, participatory democracy and equitable development - since 1992.

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