Haitian Labor Movement Struggles as Workers Face Increased Anti-Union Persecution and Wage Suppression

This April 2014 report by the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and IJDH describes persecution of union activists, wage suppression and worker exploitation in Haiti's public sector and apparel industry four years after the 2010 earthquake. It documents at least 36 terminations across seven factories in retaliation for December 2013 protests at the SONAPI industrial zone demanding a 500 gourdes daily wage, the firing of the entire executive committee of the EDH electricity utility union after a press conference on alleged corruption, and a history of anti-union dismissals at One World Apparel. Citing Better Work Haiti and Workers Rights Consortium investigations, it reports that all 24 of Haiti's apparel factories failed to set piece rates allowing workers to earn the 300 gourdes daily minimum under the 2009 law, with only 16 percent of piece-rate workers reaching that level. The report describes government complicity through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and an exclusionary justice system, and issues eight recommendations on reinstatement, back pay, fair hearings, legal aid and compliance monitoring by the United States and investors.