Act NOW!
Stop violence, recognize workers' rights in Haiti's Codevi FTZ
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 [Haiti] 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, however, they found that they were locked-out. Worse was to follow when production resumed a few days later. Grupo M, without any warning, closed half of the factory units and fired over 300 workers, including the SOKOWA union leadership. 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 Please take action today to demand that Dominican Army Forces are withdrawn immediately and permanently from the Codevi FTZ; that all violence against workers ceases and all management personnel found to have committed a violent act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 are 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 informal economy in Haiti that has been supporting the union in this case) and ceases to threaten closure; that the IFC and Levis demand that the Haitian government give SOKOWA its legal registration, as required by law; and that Levi Strauss does not cut and run. Your support is urgently needed.
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Campaign launched:
09-Jun-2004 |