Rapid Response Network

Tag: SOTA

TRABALHADORES HAITIANOS ATACADOS BRUTALMENTE. AJA AGORA.
(Translated from English version of 5/23/177 RRN post)

Port Au Prince, Haiti – Terça-feira 23/5/17

Trabalhadores da indústria têxtil em greve desde sexta-feira (19/5/17) continuam sua luta por um salário mínimo maior!

Eles estão sob ataque feroz e precisam de nossa solidariedade agora.

* Se você já estiver familiarizado com a situação, clique aqui para ir para o final da página para tomar medidas agora. [insert hyperlink to anchor link]

A greve e as mobilizações espalharam-se por todo o país, graças aos esforços da PLASIT-BO, uma federação de sindicatos têxteis afiliados ao Batay Ouvriye, um movimento operário independente. (Clique aqui para mais informações sobre essas organizações).

Os trabalhadores em greve têm três demandas principais:
1. Um ajuste de salário mínimo de 350 para 800 Gourdes por dia (de US $ 5,50 a US $ 12,60 por dia), além de subsídio de refeição, transporte e habitação
2. Os trabalhadores estão exigindo serviços sociais.
3. Eles exigem que as cotas de produção não aumentem com o aumento do salário mínimo.
Na sexta-feira (19/5) e no sábado (20/5), milhares de trabalhadores fecharam dezenas de fábricas têxteis em Port Au Prince, marchando nas ruas e bloqueando a estrada para o Aeroporto Internacional Toussaint Louverture.

Os trabalhadores têxteis haitianos recebem o salário mais baixo do hemisfério ocidental. As cotas de produção são muitas vezes inalcançáveis. Proprietários de fábrica e de gestão não respeitam a lei, e muitas vezes não pagam o salário mínimo existente. Os membros da União e os organizadores são constantemente assediados e arbitrariamente demitidos pelo exercício dos seus direitos legais.

Apesar do fato de que quase 4 mil trabalhadores optaram pela greve na sexta-feira e no sábado, os proprietários de fábricas haitianos da Associação das Indústrias Haitianas (ADIH) alegaram falsamente que “militantes e sindicalistas” solitários pressionavam e até batiam nos trabalhadores, obrigando-os a participar da greve e das manifestações. Essas alegações falsas desmerecem a exploração cotidiana, a repressão e a atividade antissindical que os proprietários de fábricas e a administração exercem contra os trabalhadores para aumentar seus lucros.

Clique aqui para informações, fotos e vídeos das mobilizações de sexta-feira e sábado.

Na segunda-feira (22/5/17), a greve continuou e cresceu com os trabalhadores têxteis bloqueando várias estradas na capital, Port Au Prince, incluindo a estrada para o aeroporto.

Port Au Prince – A greve por 800 Gourdes continua.

Trabalhadores em outras partes do país também se juntaram à greve. Membros do sindicato SOKOWA na Zona Franca CODEVI em Ounaminthe, no Haiti, deixando seu trabalho e tomando as ruas. Ounaminthe está na região nordeste do Haiti, na fronteira com a República Dominicana.

Ounaminthe, Haiti – workers in CODEVI Free Trade Zone leave work & take the street.

Na parte sul do país, em Carrefour, trabalhadores e membros da união têxtil SOTA-BO também saíram de seus trabalhos de fábrica para se juntar à greve e exigir 800 Gourdes.

Proprietários de fábricas e do Estado responderam violentamente, disparando gás lacrimogêneo e balas de borracha contra os trabalhadores que lutam por seus direitos.

Port Au Prince – a striking worker received a rubber bullet to the neck.

Na terça-feira (23/5/17), os trabalhadores voltaram às fábricas, mas muitos em Port Au Prince e Carrefour deram continuidade à paralisação sentando-se em seus postos sem trabalhar.

Trabalhadores das seguintes fábricas se envolveram na paralisação:

Sewing International, SA (SISA)

Pacific Sport

Vai Ayiti

H & H Textiles

Palm Apparel

23/5/17 – Os trabalhadores pararam de costurar na fábrica do Pacific Sport.

Outra foto de 23/5/17: paralisação no trabalho dentro da fábrica Pacific Sport

23/5/17 Parada de trabalho dentro Palm Fábrica de Vestuário.

Às 12h de hoje, terça-feira, 23/5/17, a RRN recebeu relatórios da SOTA-BO de que a polícia nacional haitiana e a polícia anti-motim CIMO entraram nas fábricas de número 50, 52 e 53 no Parque Industrial Sonapi, em Port-au-Prince, e “reprimiram severamente os trabalhadores.”

Não sabemos dos nomes reais dessas fábricas.

Às 13:54, recebemos esta foto de uma trabalhadora na fábrica número 52 que foi espancada pela força policial da CIMO. Neste momento, foi relatado que ela faleceu.

Muitos trabalhadores fugiram do Parque Industrial SONAPI e refugiaram-se no centro de trabalhadores de Batay Ouvriye e em uma estação de rádio próxima.

Às 14h50, 23/5/17, a RRN recebeu um relatório de que a polícia nacional também estava reprimindo brutalmente os trabalhadores em Carrefour, localizada ao sul de Port Au Prince.
É HORA DE SOLIDARIEDADE. NÃO PODEMOS FICAR SENTADOS ENQUANTO TRABALHADORES SÃO AGREDIDOS ATÉ A MORTE EM PROL DOS LUCROS DOS PROPRIETÁRIOS DE FÁBRICA E DAS MARCAS PARA AS QUAIS ELES PRODUZEM.

COMO VOCÊ PODE AJUDAR:

1. Envie um e-mail aos proprietários de fábrica, governo e agências reguladoras para que eles saibam que você está ao lado dos trabalhadores têxteis do Haiti. Vamos inundar as caixas de entrada de e-mail dos seguintes indivíduos:

Alain Villard – Proprietário da Palm Apparel e da SISA

Jean-Paul Faubert – Vice-Presidente de Palm Apparel

Charles Henri Baker – Proprietário de One World Apparel & politician

Jay Jihoon Kim – H & H Têxteis

George Sassine – Presidente da ADIH & proprietário da AG Textiles, SA

Claudine Francois – Gerente de Programa de Países, Better Work Haiti

Gabinete de Mediação do Sector Têxtil

Copie e cole o e-mail abaixo, ou escreva o seu próprio, e envie-o para esses contatos.

Certifique-se de enviar o e-mail com cópia para o Batay Ouvriye.

Contatos:

Jay@yjapp.com; Alain.villard@palmapparel.com; Mapaid@agacorp.com; Jpfaubert@palmapparelgroup.com; Chbaker@pbapparel.com; Gsassine@gbgroup.com; Bureaumediationsecteurtextile@gmail.com; Francois@betterwork.org; Marie-louise.russo@adih.ht; vacotto@ilo.org; laventure@ilo.org; laventure@ilo.org; betterwork@ilo.org

Cc: batayouvriye@hotmail.com, contact@rapidresponsenetwork.info

Assunto: STOP ATTACKING GARMENT WORKERS

To Whom it May Concern:

I am emailing in support of Haitian garment workers in Port Au Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe and Caracol.

I am outraged by the use of brutal and deadly force against workers!

I stand with the workers who are bravely striking and demonstrating for their rights.

Factory owners and the brands they produce for make millions, sometimes billions of dollars in profit by exploiting these workers. They are within their rights to organize and demand decent pay to house, feed, clothe and educate themselves.

I insist on the following:

Pay workers 800 Gourdes minimum wage & provide social services.

Respect workers’ right to organize.

Stop the repression against workers!
In solidarity with Haitian garment workers,

Seu nome
Cidade/estado/país

#RRNsolidarity
#RightToOrganize
#800Gourds

[Tradução do e-mail:

A quem possa interessar:

Estou enviando um e-mail para apoiar os trabalhadores de roupas haitianos em Port Au Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe e Caracol.

Estou indignado(a) com o uso de força brutal e mortal contra os trabalhadores!

Estou com os trabalhadores que estão bravamente lutando por seus direitos.

Proprietários de fábrica e as marcas para as quais eles produzem ganham milhões, às vezes bilhões de dólares em lucro, explorando esses trabalhadores. Estão em seu direito de se organizar e exigir um salário decente para moradia, alimentação, vestimenta e educação.

Insisto no seguinte:

– Paguem os trabalhadores com um salário mínimo de 800 Gourdes e prestem serviços sociais.

– Respeitem o direito de organização dos trabalhadores.

– Parem a repressão contra os trabalhadores!

Em solidariedade com os trabalhadores têxteis haitianos,

Seu nome

Cidade, Estado ou País]

2. Faça uma contribuição financeira para apoiar esta luta. Suas contribuições ajudam a custear a impressão de folhetos, gasolina para os organizadores viajarem entre fábricas, fundos de greve para ajudar a alimentar os trabalhadores quando eles não estão trabalhando, e muito mais.

Sua contribuição de US $ 50, ou qualquer quantia, ajudará os trabalhadores a continuar sua luta.
Venmo – www.venmo.com/RRNsolidarity

Paypal – RRNsolidarity@gmail.com

3. Compartilhe nas mídias sociais e siga o RRN.

Twitter: @RRNsolidarity

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseNetwork/

Inscreva-se para receber updates: http://goo.gl/Me35SH

Email: contact@rapidresponsenetwork.info
OBRIGADO PELA SOLIDARIEDADE.

#RRNsolidariedade

#DireitodeOrganização

#800Gourdes
May 28, 2017
UPDATES. Repression Mounting. Join Operation Arms Crossed.
Garment workers across Haiti have been striking and demonstrating to demand:
1. A minimum wage adjustment from 350 Gourdes ($5.50 US) to 800 Gourdes ($12.60)per day, on top of meal, transportation and housing subsidies
2. Social Services
3. They demand that production quotas do not increase with the increased minimum wage
They are under attack, but are not backing down. Stand with them!

Solidarity with “Operasyon Bra Kwaze”, or in English, “Operation Arms Crossed.”

The strike began Friday 5/19/17 in the capital, Port Au Prince, and spread quickly. Strikes and demonstrations are taking place in the north and south of Haiti in four main cities – Port Au Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe and Caracol.

These workers receive the lowest wage in the western hemisphere. Garment workers live in debt, hunger and on the brink of homelessness, despite working 12-16 hour days.

Meanwhile factory owners/manufacturers like the Apaid family, Alain Villard, Charles Baker, H&H Textiles, Sae-A and Grupo M, along with brands like Hanes, Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, Gap, and Walmart rake in billions of dollars in profit.

Production quotas are set impossibly high. Factory owners and management do not respect the law, and often do not pay the existing minimum wage. Union members and organizers are constantly harassed and arbitrarily fired for exercising their legal rights.

Garment workers have said, “Enough!” When you are drowning in debt; when there is not enough money for rent or food; when the company you work for is stealing your wages; there is only one option – STAND UP & FIGHT BACK.

Now the factory owners and the government are attacking workers for fighting for their basic rights.

HERE ARE THE MOST RECENT UPDATES from organizers with SOTA, SOKOWA & SOVAGH:

PORT AU PRINCE – SOTA-BO UNION – SONAPI Industrial Park + factories outside the industrial park
- Tues 5/23/17 – Workers left the streets and returned to work, but many participated in work stoppages in their factories. Haiti National Police riot division, CIMO, attacked workers in the SONAPI Industrial Park, with workers fleeing. Many workers had their phones stolen or destroyed by the police, because they were trying to document the attack. Factory owners do not want us to see their attacks on workers.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – RRN receives reports that Premium Apparel factory, owned by the powerful Apaid family, has become a sort of central command for repression. There is a police occupation of the factory. Workers say the factory now resembles a military compound. Below are photos of the nearly empty factory floor at Premium Apparel.
  Premium Apparel Factory, nearly empty.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – The woman in this photo that we posted Tues 5/23/17, who was brutally beaten unconscious is alive. She is in the hospital waiting on x-ray results.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – Workers commit to “Operasyon Bra Kwaze,” or “Operation Arms Crossed,” meaning they will not back down. The RRN stands with them.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – In the video below, workers demand that the police give back the phones they stole from them.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – SOTA-BO shares schedule of mobilization for the coming days:
  - May 26 – March
  - May 27 – STRIKE
  - May 28 – rest
  - May 29 – March
  - May 30 – March
- Fri 5/26/17 – RRN received word from Haiti that The National Police declared all marches blocking the road to the airport a matter of National Security. The Batay Ouvriye Workers Center, SONAPI Industrial Park, and Sewing Inernational, SA (SISA) factory all are located on this road – Boulevard Toussaint Louverture.
- Fri 5/26/17 – RRN receives a translation of an official Notice sent out on 5/22/17 from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security commending the Haitian National Police for their efforts and encouraging them to block mobilizations by any means necessary.
CARREFOUR – SOTA-BO UNION – Palm Apparel, H&H Textiles and other factories
- Tues 5/23/17 – RRN receives reports that workers at Palm Apparel, owned by Alain Villard were under attack by CIMO division of the Haiti National police also.
- Fri 5/26/17 – RRN receives report of a possible confrontation between workers and police. We are awaiting confirmation, and if there any victims.
OUNAMINTHE – SOKOWA UNION – Codevi Free Trade Zone
- Thurs 5/25/17 – workers at Codevi Free Trade Zone, owned and operated by Grupo M & Fernando Capellan, did a work stoppage. They went into the factory, but sat at their stations and did not sew.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – RRN receives the below video from a street demonstration where workers are singing, “Go tell Jovenel we need the 800 Gourdes!” Jovenel Moise is the current president of Haiti.
CARACOL – SOVAGH UNION – Caracol Industrial Park
- Thurs 5/25/17 – workers at Sae-A factory, in the Caracol Industrial Park, also did a work stoppage. They went into the factory, but sat at their stations and did not sew.
- Thurs 5/25/17 – workers at Caracol Industrial Park are shot with rubber bullets by the police.
Thank you for the pressure you have put on factory owners, government and regulatory agencies!

PLEASE DON’T STOP. LET’S INCREASE THE PRESSURE.

Factory owners and the government are likely to double down their repression against workers. Let’s let them know the world is watching!

Contact info for Port Au Prince & Carrefour:

https://rapidresponsenetwork.info/2017/05/24/factory-owners-stop-attacking-workers/

Contact info for Caracol Industrial Park:

https://rapidresponsenetwork.info/2017/05/25/strike-on-keep-the-pressure-focus-on-caracol/

Below is info for CODEVI Free Trade Zone in Ounaminthe:

Grupo M – company that operates CODEVI.

Phone: 1-809-241-7171

Website – http://www.grupom.com.do

Twitter – @GrupoMCodevi – https://twitter.com/grupomcodevi?lang=en

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/grupom_codevi/

Linked In – https://www.linkedin.com/company/grupo-m

Fernando Capellan – President of Grupo M

Email – fcapellan@grupom.com.do
Twitter – @fcapellan1 – https://twitter.com/fcapellan1

Christian Capellan – works for Grupo M
Email – ccapellan@grupom.com.do
Twitter – @ccapellan1 – https://twitter.com/ccapellan1?lang=en

Last, please make a financial contribution to help these workers continue their fight.

The act of striking is incredibly brave. It requires a serious sacrifice, and a level of cooperation and care for their collective interest. Striking means no wages. It means hungry families, no money for transit, for school, or for the market. It means the rent will not be paid and the possibility of homelessness. And yet, the textile workers continue on… because they recognize that the only path to justice is through their collective fight. It’s their only alternative to starvation wages and further exploitation.

Workers are determined to continue with the ongoing strikes. They are fierce and brave, but they are also hungry, and funds to continue the strike are low.

Let’s stand with them!

We must not passively accept the presence of products on store shelves without understanding—and actively opposing—the harsh conditions of exploitation and repression under which they are produced.

Skip a few cups of coffee out and donate that money to Haitian garment workers.

Make a contribution of any amount.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE.
SOLIDARITY FOREVER!

ABA SALE MIZ! DOWN WITH MISERY WAGES!

ABA EKSPLWATASYON! DOWN WITH EXPLOITATION!

#800Gourdes
#RRNsolidarity
#HaitiStrike
#RightToOrganize
May 25, 2017
Haitian Workers Brutally Attacked. ACT NOW.
Port Au Prince, Haiti – Tuesday 5/23/17 – Garment workers on strike since Friday, 5/19/17 continue their fight for an increased minimum wage!

They are under fierce attack and need our solidarity now.

* If you are familiar with the situation, please click here to jump to the bottom of the page to take action now.

The strike and mobilizations have spread country-wide, thanks to the efforts of PLASIT-BO, a federation of textile trade unions affiliated with Batay Ouvriye (Workers Fight), an independent workers movement. (Click here for more info on these organizations).

The striking workers have three core demands:
1. A minimum wage adjustment to 350 to 800 Gourdes daily (from $5.50 to $12.60 per day), on top of meal, transportation and housing subsidies
2. Workers are demanding Social Services.
3. They demand that production quotas do not increase with the increased minimum wage.
Friday 5/19 and Saturday 5/20, thousands of workers shut down dozens of textile factories in Port Au Prince, marching in the streets and blocking the road to Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

Haitian garment workers receive the lowest wage in the western hemisphere. Production quotas are often set impossibly high. Factory owners and management do not respect the law, and often do not pay the existing minimum wage. Union members and organizers are constantly harassed and arbitrarily fired for exercising their legal rights.

Despite the fact that nearly 4,000 workers chose to strike on Friday and Saturday, Haitian factory owners with the Association of Haitian Industries (ADIH) falsely claimed that lone “militants and syndicalists” pressured and actually beat workers, forcing them to join the strike and marches. These false allegations are meant to detract from the every day exploitation, repression and anti-union activity that factory owners and management exercise against workers to increase their profits.

Click here for info, photos & video from Friday and Saturday’s mobilizations.

Monday, 5/22/17, the strike continued and grew with garment workers blocking several roads in the capital, Port Au Prince, including the road to the airport.

Port Au Prince – Strike for 800 Gourdes continues.

Workers in other parts of the country also joined the strike. SOKOWA union members at CODEVI Free Trade Zone in Ounaminthe, Haiti leaving their work and taking the streets. Ounaminthe is in the northeast part of Haiti, on the border of the Dominican Republic.

Ounaminthe, Haiti – workers in CODEVI Free Trade Zone leave work & take the street.

In the southern part of the country, in Carrefour, workers and members of SOTA-BO textile union also walked out of their factory jobs to join the strike and to demand 800 Gourdes.

Factory owners and the state responded with repression firing more tear gas and rubber bullets at workers fighting for their rights.

Port Au Prince – a striking worker received a rubber bullet to the neck.

Tuesday, 5/23/17, workers returned to work today, but many in Port Au Prince and Carrefour engaged in a work stoppage, meaning they sat at their stations, but did not work.

Some workers at the following factories engaged in the stoppage:
- Sewing International, SA (SISA)
- Pacific Sport
- Go Ayiti
- H&H Textiles
- Palm Apparel
5/23/17 – Workers stop sewing at Pacific Sport factory.

Another photo of 5/23/17 work stoppage inside Pacific Sport factory.

5/23/17 Work stoppage inside Palm Apparel Factory.

At 12pm today, Tuesday, 5/23/17, the RRN received reports from SOTA-BO that the Haitian National Police & CIMO riot police entered factories number 50, 52, and 53 in the Sonapi Industrial Park in Port Au Prince and “severely repressed the workers.”

We are unsure of the actual names of these factories.

At 1:54pm, we received this photo of a woman worker in factory number 52 who was beaten by the CIMO police force. At this moment, she is reported to be lifeless.

Many workers have fled the SONAPI Industrial Park and have taken refuge at the Batay Ouvriye workers center and at a nearby radio station.

At 2:50pm, 5/23/17, RRN received a report that the national police were also brutalizing workers in Carrefour, Haiti. This is just south of Port Au Prince.

IT IS TIME FOR SOLIDARITY. WE CANNOT SIT IDLY WHILE WORKERS ARE BEATEN TO DEATH FOR THE PROFITS OF FACTORY OWNERS AND THE BRANDS THEY PRODUCE FOR.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. Email factory owners, government & regulatory agencies to let them know you stand with Haitian garment workers.

Let’s flood the email inboxes of the following:

Alain Villard – Owner of Palm Apparel and SISA
Jean-Paul Faubert – Vice President of Palm Apparel
Charles Henri Baker – Owner of One World Apparel & politician
Jay Jihoon Kim – H&H Textiles
George Sassine – President of ADIH & owner of AG Textiles, SA
Claudine Francois – Country Program Manager, Better Work Haiti
Textile Sector Mediation Bureau

Copy and paste the below email, or write your own, and send it to these contacts.

Please be sure to copy Batay Ouvriye on the email.

Email Contacts:

Jay@yjapp.com; alain.villard@palmapparel.com; mapaid@agacorp.com; jpfaubert@palmapparelgroup.com; chbaker@pbapparel.com; gsassine@gbgroup.com; bureaumediationsecteurtextile@gmail.com;
francois@betterwork.org; marie-louise.russo@adih.ht

cc: batayouvriye@hotmail.com; chalmerscamille6@gmail.com

Subject: STOP ATTACKING GARMENT WORKERS

To Whom it May Concern:

I am emailing in support of Haitian garment workers in Port Au Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe and Caracol.

I am outraged by the use of brutal and deadly force against workers!

I stand with the workers who are bravely striking and demonstrating for their rights.

Factory owners and the brands they produce for make millions, sometimes billions of dollars in profit by exploiting these workers. They are within their rights to organize and demand decent pay to house, feed, clothe and educate themselves.

I insist on the following:
1. Pay workers 800 Gourdes minimum wage & provide social services.
2. Respect workers’ right to organize.
3. Stop the repression against workers!
In solidarity with Haitian garment workers,

Your Name
City, State, or Country

#RRNsolidarity
#RightToOrganize
#800Gourds

2. Make a financial contribution to support this fight. Your contributions help pay for printing leaflets, gas for organizers to travel between factories, strike funds to help feed workers when they are not working, and more.

Your contribution of $50, or any amount, will help workers continue their fight.
- Venmo – www.venmo.com/RRNsolidarity
- Paypal – RRNsolidarity@gmail.com
3. Spread the word on social media & follow the RRN.

Twitter: @RRNsolidarity

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseNetwork/

Newsletter/updates sign up: http://goo.gl/Me35SH

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SOLIDARITY.

#RRNsolidarity
#RightToOrganize
#800Gourdes
May 23, 2017