28609: Holmstead (news) Grupo M calls it quits (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

FROM: John Holmstead


Dominican Company to Leave Haiti
June 10, 2004 8:07pm

AP Online

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic_A Dominican factory
that makes Levi's jeans in a Haitian free-trade zone
plans to close its doors and lay off 700 Haitian
employees because of labor disputes, company officials
said Wednesday.

Grupo M, one of the Dominican Republic's largest
free-trade zone companies, built the $10 million
factory a year ago in the border town of Ouanaminthe,
Haiti.

The decision is a blow to Haiti, the Americas' poorest
country, where most people are jobless and the
political situation has become more fragile since the
February rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

"This has been a very difficult decision, and we've
done everything to avoid it," Grupo M spokeswoman Rosa
Taveras said. "The majority of people want to keep
working but it's a radical group that pushed us to
this point."

Workers at the factory, who make about 750 Haitian
Gourds $18 a week and have no health benefits, have
been pushing for higher wages and a medical plan over
the last two months.

About 100 workers went on strike Monday and stopped
workers from crossing a picket line, Grupo M said.
Though production resumed Tuesday, the company said it
needed to make a change.

The decision was made "for security reasons in the
face of threats and violent actions by a group of
activists called Batay Ouvriye," Grupo M President
Fernando Capellan said.

Representatives of Batay Ouvriye could not be reached
for comment.

Free-trade zones in the two countries are areas where
companies can manufacture goods without having to pay
import taxes on raw materials or export taxes on the
final product.

Companies operating in free-trade zones are a leading
employer in the Dominican Republic, with 530 of them
employing 170,833 people in 2002, officials said.

Despite the proximity to Haiti, only a few companies
have set up shop across the border.

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