Extract from “Behind the brand names: Working conditions and labour rights in export processing zones”, ICFTU, December 2004

Why I was sacked: A former zone worker tells her story

She used to work on a production line making jeans and bras. Now Louissane Borgella makes school uniforms for children. The 32-year-old Haitian worker began working for herself after being dismissed in June along with 370 work colleagues from the CODEVI (Industrial Development Company) free trade zone. As the eldest of the family, with a brother, five sisters, and two children of her own to support, she does not have much choice.

Louissane still has a vivid picture in her mind of the infernal production line where she worked for almost ten months in the free trade zone located on the Dominican-Haitian border.

“The minimum wage was 432 gourdes (10. 50 Euros) a week. We had to work on production lines of 14 people. If we managed to finish 10, 000 items, we could earn 900 gourdes (22 Euros). But I never managed. It was impossible. At best, 6, 000 or 7, 000, no more.”

Louissane witnessed threats of physical violence and verbal abuse on a daily basis “We were often pushed around while we were working. Some women were approached by men who wanted to ‘have a chat’ with them. They were threatened with dismissal if they didn’t allow themselves to be taken advantage of.”

Louissane could not even begin to calculate the number of overtime hours she worked, always unpaid. She had to clock in at the factory entrance by showing her ID card, but she never had to clock out. “Our working day was supposed to be from 6 in the morning to 4. 30 in the afternoon, but the supervisor never agreed to that. He always wanted us to work longer, often until 6pm and sometimes as late as 7. 30. And do you think we received more money for it?”

Louissane decided to join the local union SOKOWA which had been formed in March, knowing that she risked her job. When in June Grupo M, the Dominican company controlling CODEVI, fired workers from five out of the ten production lines, claiming a fall in productivity, Louissane did not believe it for one second. “We were sacked because we had organised a one day strike for a pay rise. The workers on these five production lines were practically all members of SOKOWA.”

The 5, 500 gourdes received as “severance pay” have not silenced Louissane who is still fighting for compensation and interest.

But aside from sexual harassment, mass dismissals and other violations of workers’ rights, Louissane Borgella’s chief concern is her health. On two occasions, CODEVI workers were administered vaccines in the factory clinics. These were tetanus jabs, they were told. Since then, many of the women have been suffering from serious health problems. “I myself no longer have my periods at the same time; they come much later. And I often have stomach ache.” Like many workers, Louissane suspects that she may have been subjected to a covert sterilisation campaign, but has no way of proving it.

Would this former FTZ worker ever work again in the CODEVI free trade zone? “If the management starts to show respect for the workers, yes. If not, no!”

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