The Rapid Response Network has been offering solidarity from the US and around the world to support Haitian workers and peasants organized with Batay Ouvriye since 2012. This has often taken the form of pressure campaigns to amplify the voice and demands of workers and peasants against major global brands, factory owners, and big landowners
March 14, 2022 As Haitian garment workers continue to fight for their rights, we in the US can learn from their example of independent organization. What follows is an update on the recent strikes in Haiti for increased wages, and a call to build independent organization here in the US. UPDATE In the last days
Note: A big thanks to those who lent their solidarity to the workers and peasants of Batay Ouvriye during RRN’s emergency Summer/Fall 2021 fundraiser! Thanks to you we surpassed our $10,000 goal. Your support played a role in helping these workers through a very difficult time, so that they could organize this current campaign for
July 2021 – In the wake of the assassination of corrupt Haitian president Jovenel Moise, politicians fight for power over a broken system that has never benefit Haiti’s workers, peasants and the poor. Gangs control much of the country, especially in the capital city, Port Au Prince, where they are known for burning neighborhoods, murdering,
While people all over the globe have been forced to face the challenges of COVID-19, workers at several of Alain Villard’s garment factories in Haiti are particularly vulnerable to the virus and its effects. The death of Sandra René, a decade-long employee of Palm Apparel in Carrefour, exposed the bald corruption of Villard when OFATMA
SAVE THE DATE + DONATE <3 Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 5:30pm EST, please join the Rapid Response Network for an online screening of Batay La, a 25-minute documentary about the Haitian workers movement, Batay Ouvriye (Workers Struggle). We’ll watch the film and have a live update from Yannick Etienne of Batay Ouvriye, joining us
May 1, 2020 – This International Workers Day the streets of Port Au Prince, Haiti will remain relatively quiet. Instead of thousands of textile workers filling the streets with loudspeakers, speeches and songs of protest and demands, they will gather in small, socially distanced groups to discuss a new development in their struggle – COVID19.
For over one year, there have been ongoing uprisings across Haiti. Petro-Caribe corruption leading to increased fuel prices, costs of living, food and water shortages have made it near impossible for most Haitians to survive. As a result, people are rising up to spontaneously express their anger and frustrations. Among the chaos, the garment workers
Haitian garment workers in the northeast part of Haiti ask us for international back up. Please email Fernando Capellan to let him know that he cannot illegally fire union members in the CODEVI Free Trade Zone. After thousands of workers decided to stay home from work to protest unjust wage taxes, 42 union members were
We recently put out a call, asking for folks to contact Haitian factory owner, Clifford Apaid who illegally fires and represses union members for exercising their legal rights throughout his multiple factories. In 2017 more than 400 workers were suspended from Premium Apparel for over 4 months. In 2017, 32 workers were fired from Inter-American