At a press conference on Thursday June 29, 2023, attended by AlterPresse, the labor union Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti denounced the decision of businessman Andy Apaid arbitrary decision to dismiss some fifty workers on Thursday June 15, 2023. Apaid owns the Premium apparel S.A. factories.
The workers were dismissed following a protest that demanded Premium Apparel S.A. forward information pertaining to monthly salary deductions to the Office national d'assurance vieillesse (ONA).
Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti expressed solidarity with the workers who were laid off for denouncing Apaid's corruption and embezzlement..
"We have already sent correspondence to the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSCC/CA) and the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) asking them to carry out an audit of ONA, in order to uncover corruption within the institution," says Reyneld Sanon, a member of Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti.
Frantz Dura, a member of the Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti organization, stated at the press conference that the mobilization to force industrialist Andy Apaid to reverse his arbitrary decision to dismiss the workers must be urgently relaunched. Including the demand that the de facto government set the minimum wage for a day's work at 2,500. 00 gourdes (Ndlr: US $ 1.00 = + 145.00 gourdes; 1 euro = 151.00 gourdes; 1 Canadian dollar = 105.00 gourdes; 1 Dominican peso = 2.60 gourdes today) in the subcontracting sector.
Raising the price of petroleum products in September 2022 in Haiti, a crime
Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti. also stated that the de facto government's decision on September 22, 2022 to increase the price of petroleum products by more than 100% is still causing serious harm to the population, and workers in particular.
Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti continues to denounce the complicity of certain trade unions, which have allegedly negotiated with the de facto government to raise fuel prices.
On Monday May 1, 2023 - Agriculture and Labor Day, following a call from several labor unions, several hundred textile workers marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince to demand daily minimum wage of 2,500.00 gourdes.
Between May 1 and 23, 2023, several hundred workers staged several demonstrations in Port-au-Prince to demand wages, working conditions, and social services..
On Tuesday May 23, 2023, national police officers injured several workers demonstrating in the streets of Port-au-Prince with rubber bullets and tear gas.
On Thursday June 15, 2023, a 14-year-old boy and two Haitian workers at the M2 factory were shot dead and several others injured following an altercation at the Compagnie de développement industriel (CODEVI) in Ouanaminthe (Nord-Est department), on the border with Dajabón (Dominican Republic).
Antèn Ouvriye Ayiti accused Haitian agents of the Border Police (POLIFRONT) and the Intervention Brigade for being responsible for the tragedy at CODEVI. .
In 2017, thousands of workers at CODEVI began a series of mobilizations to compel the authorities of the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) to retract the decision to withdraw a 13% tax from their wages.
A petition against the payment of the 13% tax has gathered over three thousand signatures.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted July 13, 2023