Collective Bargaining Contract Signed

FLASH NEWS RELEASE ! Collective Bargaining Contract Signed at the Ouanaminthe CODEVI Free Trade Zone
Batay Ouvriye is pleased to inform the public in general, all those who have been following the situation at the Ouanaminthe Free Trade Zone, and particularly those involved in the workers' struggle there, that, after several months of negotiations, a final agreement was signed during the afternoon of Tuesday, December 13th, between management at the Codevi Free Trade Zone (Grupo M) and the SOCOWA workers' union, affiliated with the May First Batay Ouvriye Union Federation.

The base salary of 432 gourdes weekly (US$10.16 or US$1.45 daily) is to be adjusted to 900 gourdes (US$21.17 or US$3.03 daily) with, additionally, an
agreement to raise salaries by 45% over a period of three years (20% first, then 15% and 10%), all this taking into account rates of inflation and currency devaluation as specifically stipulated in the national labor legislation's
Article 137.

Although the question of wages was the crux of the negotiations, many other issues relating to union recognition; labor rights; working conditions; health,
hygiene and security; pregnancy and sexual harassment, were also settled.

Batay Ouvriye will be releasing more information on this important success shortly. In the meantime, we salute once again the Codevi workers' struggles, as well as all of those in solidarity who contributed to the resolution of this workplace conflict.

The Haiti Support Group adds:

Most of you will know that the Haiti Support Group has made the struggle for workers' rights at the Ouanaminthe Free Trade Zone a special focus of our work
over the last two years. This great news about the collective bargaining agreement and the wage increases follows the victory earlier this year when over 150 workers sacked for belonging to the Socowa union were reinstated and the Socowa union won full recognition from the management.

We want to thank all of you who have responded to our calls for solidarity, whether this consisted of sending emails to the main contractor, Levi Strauss & Co., demonstrating outside the Levi's store in Regent Street, London, or contributing to our Socowa solidarity fund.

We want to send special thanks and recognition to the Battersea and Wandsworth trade union council for the important financial support it has provided to
Socowa; to the No Sweat organisation for raising donations to support Batay Ouvriye; and to the LabourStart campaigning web site for the thousands of
emails sent in response to Socowa's appeals for international solidarity.

We will include more details about the situation at the Ouanaminthe FTZ in the next issue of Haiti Briefing which will be published in January 2006. Meanwhile, would UK-based supporters please consider renewing annual
affiliations by sending cheques for 25 pounds sterling to the Haiti Support Group, PO Box 29623, London E9 7XU; those without UK bank accounts, please use the PayPal credit card facility for online transactions that can be found on the HSG web site home page: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Wishing you a fulfilling New Year

Charles Arthur

Haiti Support Group
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Forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the
Haitian people's struggle for human rights, participatory democracy and
equitable
development - since 1992.

Web site: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org