Country Rating: 4

  • Systematic violation of rights

  • Workers in countries with the rating of 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers, putting fundamental rights under continuous threat.

Union leaders fired over wage protests: Six workers at the One World Apparel S.A. garment assembly plant in the north of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, were given notices of dismissal on 8 January 2014, four weeks after workers shut down production in the city's apparel sector with 10 and 11 December protests demanding a daily minimum wage of 500 gourdes (about US$ 12.08). The fired workers – Jude Pierre, Luckner Louis, Deroy Jean Baptiste, Paul René Pierre, Jean Luvard Exavier and Rubin Mucial – are all on the executive committee of the Textile and Garment Workers Union (SOTA), a member union in the Collective of Textile Union Organizations (KOSIT), the labour alliance that led the December protests.

Dismissal of 7 trade union members from the WILLBES company: On 9 September 2013, the ITUC protested about the dismissals of 10 trade union members and leaders from the SYNOTRA-GWH/CATH trade union that were working at the WILLBES company. The entire trade union management committee and 2 trade union members were dismissed.

The Office National d'Assurance-Vieillesse (ONA), the national agency in charge of managing private sector pensions, has been in turmoil since Tuesday 25 March 2014. After being unfairly dismissed by the director general, ONA employees held a strike to demand his removal. The director general responded by closing the doors of the institution and has not reopened it to date. Special police forces have taken over the premises and surrounded the institution. This police presence has no other mission but to arrest employees demanding their rights.

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