NOTE: These 2 reports are very roughly translated with the help of Google translator, so may contain errors. Apologies in advance if that is the case.
***

Report from Batay Ouvriye (Workers Fight), Nov. 17:

250 workers participated in debate around the minimum wage. St. Cyr, a member of the CATH, talked about all the difficulty of functioning without money and all types of technical support… Chalmers of PADPA[NGO] talked about the exuberant profit made by capitalism. He insisted the minimum wage should be 70 Goud per hour. Plus there is the need for a cafeteria and the need to promote local goods so workers can survive. In 2013 the day was Sunday, November 17. Called by the Collective of Textile Factory Unions (KOSIT), about 250 workers gathered at the hotel Le Plaza on the Chanmas in Port-au-Prince to discuss the minimum wage which is to be approved by the State Salary Council in late November.

Two speakers made interventions. The first report was by one of the delegates of a workers committee, Fignolé St. Cyr (of CATH); the second was by the economist Camille Chalmers (of PAPDA), who would make the main presentation on the minimum wage. St. Eloy Dominique (of CNOHA) was also on the panel. He was responsible for institute activities; while Urbain Boys (BO) would coordinate the debates. In his report , Fignolé St. Cyr informed the delegation of the difficulties workers have in the Council. Without money , without great technical support, they have to deal with, on the one hand, fraud being perpetrated by the Commissioners in their decision mechanisms and principles that guide the functioning board, but also on another side, the imperialist pressure through the Prime Minister’s office and ADIH  (Association of Haitian Industrials) not to adjust the minimum wage at all!

Camille Chalmers, on his side, gave the main presentation of the day, to acknowledge that workers’ wages in Haiti are ridiculous, compared both with the profit gained in Haiti by domestic and foreign capitalists plus compared to the wages earned by workers in other countries. This information shows fellow workers how this argument is bourgeois nonsense, that mercy cannot come into play to adjust the wages of Haitian workers because it is too high in relation to the others! In addition, this is why, after each rare time that the salary has been adjusted, none of the factories ever close.

While our wages stay the same, they really decrease continuously, whether related to the rising price of necessities, or whether related to the devaluation of currency accompanying exploitation: bourgeois earn in dollars, while they pay the workers gourds! There are exclusive and constantly increasing tariffs allowing working class a higher daily productivity while their salary never budges, something which, on the one hand , increases the exploitation and profits while, on the other hand, decreases our overall power by purchasing the working masses in general , thereby draining the vitality from our country’s economy. What if we take into account that they are not paying overtime: there are people in the room who are often forced to work 9 hours, 10 hours, sometimes 11 hours a day, without being paid overtime! The WRC (Workers Rights Consortium) report and BWH (Better Work) have demonstrated how dishonest the bourgeois imperialists and the national capitalists are, and that there is open collusion between Ministry of Social Affairs and establishment labor.

Chalmers took the opportunity to make some interesting recommendations about the need for a minimum wage that would be hourly, which would eliminate overtime without pay. He proposed that, taking into account the cost of living , the minimum wage today should be 70 gourds per hour. Finally, he proposed mandatory cafeterias (which do not exist in most factories), which through economies of scale would cut the prices of food radically, as well as link the economic functioning of factories to agricultural production in rural settings in a more organic manner. Finally, the State Salary Council should be required to have certain concrete mechanisms in place for workers to verify the ways wages are decided, given that we know how the bourgeois tend to comply with the law.

The presentation was followed by various materials that clearly demonstrated support for the argument of the economist, including: comparative salary tables in the region and in Haiti, a graph showing the steady decline in the real value of wages as the prices of necessary products and staples are continuously rising, and a calculation of a minimum wage based on the so-called “family basket” (said to be the minimum living expenses (food, housing, transportation, education of children, health, clothing) of an average family of workers: father, mother, 2 children) – all supporting the fact that the minimum should today be 1100 gourdes per day!

Workers presented various arguments to back up this information, as witnesses who naturally support this economist. All this provided a real coherent collective presentation that was very interesting.

This meeting joined together activities in the KOSIT framework, which was set up to back up the presence of delegated employees within this bourgeois Council, to inform the workers of developments, and to prepare mobilizations. So we emphasized the announcements:
MOBILIZATION on 26 November which we will prepare.
WORKERS WILL ORGANIZE victory against these affronts!
The BATTLE is just beginning!

***

Report from Batay Ouvriye, Nov. 18, 2013:

Today, 18 November 2013, it has been a year since the union in Caracol (SOVASHG) was formally founded.

SOVASHG is the affiliate of May First-Fighting Laborers. It has been with great effort that we initiated it, given the archaic and illegal blockade imposed by the Korean capitalists of Hillary Clinton. Thus it has been with many fights, and much determination and commitment that this union gained its feet and is operational.

On this occasion, a General Assembly was held with the theme: “A year of perseverance, one year of battle: where are we?”

After struggles against arbitrary terminations, Koreans have confused Haitians with servants, whether in factories or whether through the ministry of social affairs and employment. The Executive Committee (see photo) is fully present again today.

SOVASHG received messages of solidarity from two other unions: SOFEZO and SOKOWA in CODEVI.
The activity ended with these words: “With unity and combativity, we will struggle to gain and defend our rights, fighting as our virtuous ancestors .”
The BATTLE is just beginning!