Cautious optimism for SOKOWA union in Haiti following February agreement

5 April 2005

Dear Friends,

On February 5th, 2005, after prolonged negotiations, the SOKOWA union and CODEVI management representatives signed an agreement in a labor dispute that has been ongoing since June 2004. In June, 254 workers, including six of the seven union committee members, were dismissed from the factory, a Levi Strauss supplier, because of their union activities.

The Clean Clothes Campaign welcomes this agreement and extends thanks to all our supporters who have taken action in relation to this dispute. Now it will be important to see that the terms of the agreement are met.

Since the Feb. 5th agreement the Clean Clothes Campaign has learned that not only have the 151 workers still not been reinstated, but now an additional 39 workers have been suspended. Insufficient orders has been cited as the reason the reinstatements have not gone forward as agreed upon, and the additional workers are out of work. However, we are encouraged by reports that new orders will soon be placed at the factory.

At this time the CCC is not requesting any action on this case. We will continue to monitor the situation at Codevi and should additional pressure be necessary to ensure that the promises made to the Codevi workers are fulfilled, we will inform the network.

BACKGROUND

The February 5th agreement between SOKOWA and Codevi management includes the following provisions:

• Recognition of the union's right to operate without restrictions in the free trade zone. Within this framework, 5 union leaders will be reinstated immediately with full seniority and back pay the following week, while another 151 workers will be unconditionally reinstated gradually as orders from Levis Strauss and Sara Lee return. These workers have been given priority when new personnel are hired;
• The remaining workers will receive some form of compensation from a 'help fund' as they await their reinstatement. Both the union and management agreed to raise money for this help fund, because CODEVI representatives had demonstrated that they would be unable to meet the financial requirements of paying all the dismissed workers their back wages;
• A Joint Commission with representatives from union and management has been created as a forum for workers and will meet at least monthly so that they can present their demands and concerns;
• Within six months, the union will negotiate a collective labor agreement with management that will replace the former restrictive individual labor agreements that workers had with the company;
• Company management agreed never to use the military or police to intervene in labor disputes.

Prior to the February 5th agreement, Grupo M had taken back some of those workers (approximately 100) but this was on an individual basis, without any negotiations with the union (Sokowa), without any compensation paid for the time they were without work, and under much higher (doubled) production quotas. After so many months of trying to get reinstated, some of the fired workers had moved away from the area or have found other employment elsewhere. Still, the majority of those fired continued to seek reinstatement.

During the long struggle, management resorted to violence in its attempt to break the union, including the deployment of foreign soldiers on factory premises. For more background on this case, please visit our website at
http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/04-07-21.htm.

International support for the Codevi workers and for Sokowa has been ongoing throughout this dispute. Members of the CCC network in Europe and allies in the United States wrote numerous letters of concern to Grupo M, Levi Strauss, and the World Bank IFC to push for a resolution of this conflict. Demonstrations to highlight workers' demands were held in Belgium, France and the United States.

At the time of the February agreement, Charles Arthur of the Haiti Support Group stated "we must recognize the value of the tremendous support and solidarity provided by people from many parts of the world. Great efforts have been made, both to provide funds, and to mount an effective campaign in support of the Sokowa union over the last, extremely difficult six months."

Though this historic agreement represents large gains for the labor movement in Haiti, and for cross-border solidarity with the union movement in the Dominican Republic, SOKOWA believes "that doesn't mean the conflict is over…workers need to remain vigilant so that sentences on paper are truly applied."