Stop union busting by Disney Subcontractor! Urgent call in solidarity with Haitian factory workers

From The Disney/Haiti Justice Campaign, 18 September 1997

Reports from Batay Ouvriye, an independent Haitian workers organization, indicate that management at B.V.F. Apparel Manufacturing, s.a., has recently stepped up its offensive against the union representing workers at that plant. B.V.F., located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a clothing subcontractor for the Connecticut based Waterbury Corporation, a Disney licensee. B.V.F. pays workers 28c an hour to produce clothes bearing various Disney labels. Under horrible conditions, the workers are forced to fill impossible quotas for starvation wages.

Since the beginning of September, the management at B.V.F. has fired three workers who were the top officers of the union at that plant: the president, the secretary and the treasurer of the union. They also have made it clear that they intend to continue this campaign of repression and intimidation through additional firings.

These union busting practices by the management are not new. On the very same day that the union was formed at that plant, about a year ago, management responded by firing and laying off union members. Since then, management has been consistently stalling to avoid negotiations with the union.

This is clearly an overt and unabashed attempt at union busting and it is imperative that it be swiftly condemned. The workers at that plant in Haiti stand poised to protest and demand the reinstatement of the fired workers and will very soon be taking actions to respond to the illegal and repressive practices of the management at B.V.F. Apparel Manufacturing, s.a..

It is urgent that people of conscience, progressives and activists, human rights groups, labor solidarity groups and unions take an active stand, in solidarity with the Haitian workers, to condemn these practices aimed at repressing the burgeoning labor movement in Haiti.

Let us demand from the management at B.V.F. Apparel Manufacturing, s.a. that it:

1. Rehire the fired union workers;

2. Stop all acts of intimidation and all future firings against union members;

3. Stop its stalling tactics and begin engaging in good faith negotiations leading to better working conditions and the respect of workers' rights.

Let us also demand that the U.S. companies benefitting from the exploitation of these workers issue public statements asking their business partners in Haiti to stop their acts of reprisal against union workers. Please call, write, or send your faxes in protest to:

1. In Haiti:

Mr. Alain Villard, Director
B.V.F. Apparel Mfg.
Rues Lumumba f Cineraire
Delmas, Port-au-Prince
Haiti, (W.I.)
Tel./Fax: 011-(509) 46-41-99

Mr. Alain Villard, Director
c/o Classic Apparel Co.
Route de l'Aeroport
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)
Tel.: 011-(509) 46-18-37
Fax: 011-(509) 46-18-87

Mr. Alain Villard, Director
c/o ADIH (Association of Industry Owners of Haiti)
Route de Delmas
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)
Tel. 011-509-46-45-09
Fax: 011-509-46-22-11

2. In the United States:

Michael Eisner, CEO
Walt Disney Company
South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Tel. 818-560-1000
Fax: 818-846-7319

The Waterbury Garment Corporation
1669 Thomaston Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06704
Tel. 203-574-3811

Please cc your letters and faxes to:
BATAY OUVRIYE
P.O. Box 13326
Delmas, Port-au-Prince
Haiti (W.I.)
Tel./fax: 011-509-22-67-19

THE DISNEY / HAITI JUSTICE CAMPAIGN
VILLAGE STATION, P.0. BOX 748, NY, NY 10014
(212) 592-3612
kapab@aol.com