ARTICLE - TEXTILE INDUSTRY - BENEFITS

SOCIAL BENEFITS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
(Haiti Libre) -

A mission of the Tripartite Commission for the Implementation of the HOPE Act (CTMO-HOPE) visited Washington recently to work on the concretization of social benefits provided for by the HOPE II law, and which could not be fully realized because of the global problems and some national shortcomings.

The purpose of the HOPE II law is to build a textile industry respecting the legal standards of work, to increase investment, create decent jobs, and encourage the presence of unions in the factories of subcontractors working under HOPE II/HELP.

The work of the delegation headed by Henri-Claude Müller-Poitevien, composed of trade unionists, MM. Paul Loulou Chéry of the CTH, Bernard Régis of the CSH and Yves Hériveaux of MOISE, of consultant Lionel Delatour and of Executive Director Georges B. Sassine, was therefore to negotiate the technical and financial support for the labor sector (trade unions) and for the Office of the Special Ombudsman for the work and seek the support of all parties involved in the HOPE Act (State Department, Department of Labor, Congress and Senate of the United States, government agencies and trade unions) and the Interamerican Development Bank, IDB.

Important meetings were held with advisers, including deputies and senators of Congress, representatives of Betterwork, officials from the U.S. State Department, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Special Haiti Coordinator of the International Relations Office on Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking. The delegation also had fruitful discussions with representatives of the AFL-CIO, SOLIDARITY Center, and SEIU Health Care.

After this mission a significant increase in the amounts allocated to Haiti for the implementation of the program TAICNAR, US-DOL, SOLIDARITY Center, of Betterwork for 2012 was confirmed, as well as actions to strengthen the Haitian trade union sector. The visit of a delegation of the Department of Labor and USTR under the auspices of Under Secretary Deputy, Sandra Polaski is announced for the month of January.

Finally, the IDB is committed to delivering the construction of Industrial Park North, within the time promised, and to update the project document of feasibility of other industrial parks, while seeking the support of Haiti in the mobilization of funds. It promises to discuss with authorities of other countries the possibility of providing economic support in the case of investment in Haiti.