Haiti Support Group campaign in favour of workers’ right to unionise in new free zone bears fruit at last: World Bank’s IFC approves Grupo M loan, with union rights conditions - 21 January 2004

According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has finally approved a loan of US$20 million to the Dominican Republic free trade zone operator, Grupo M, with an explicit condition that the company recognise its employees’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

The approval of the loan, which will help Grupo M develop a massive new free trade zone development in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, on the Dominican Republic border, follows investigations launched by the IFC into violations of workers’ rights by Grupo M in its other factories in the Dominican Republic.

In August and September 2003, the ICFTU and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation, released video evidence and documentation on anti-union actions by Grupo M, including threats, discrimination and violence against workers seeking to organise unions.

At this stage, the Haiti Support Group, which had been in close contact with workers’ organisations and progressive NGOs in Haiti, launched an international campaign backing the ICFTU calls for the IFC to require that Grupo M cease violating workers’ rights and respect the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation before awarding the loan.

As a result of this campaign, many organisations and individuals from different countries wrote to the IFC and World Bank directors demanding respect for workers’ right to unionise. In October, the IFC board made the loan contingent on the findings of an investigation into the allegations about Grupo M’s mistreatment of workers in the Dominican Republic.

Last week, after determining that many of the allegations about Grupo M’s anti-union practices were substantiated, the IFC decided to include the obligation to respect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining as a loan condition. If these rights are not respected, then the company will be considered to have defaulted on the loan. The IFC has apparently also drafted a “remedial action plan” that includes several measures for monitoring observance of trade union rights at Grupo M facilities.

For more details on this story and the Haiti Support Group campaign see:

http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/zonefranche.htm

Issued by the Haiti Support Group, 21 January 2004