Haiti: US opposed minimum wage rise, cables show
Sunday, June 12, 2011
By
The United States embassy in Haiti worked closely with factory owners contracted by Levi's,
Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage rise for Haitian
assembly zone workers.
The moves to block a wage rise for the lowest paid in the western hemisphere were revealed
by secret US State Department cables obtained by Haiti Liberte andThe Nation magazine.
The factory owners refused to pay $0.62 an hour, or $5 per eight-hour day, as mandated by
a measure unanimously passed by Haiti’s parliament in June 2009.
The cables, provided by WikiLeaks, show that behind the scenes, factory owners were
vigorously backed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US
embassy.
Before the rise, the minimum daily wage was $1.75 a day. The factory owners told
parliament they were willing to give workers a mere nine cent per hour pay rise — to $0.31
an hour — to make T-shirts, bras and underwear for US clothing giants such as Dockers and
Nautica.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/47890
Sweet Mickey is Hell bent on making sure this continues;