U.S.: The Biggest Foreign Investment Patron In Haiti

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EXAMPLE SET BY U.S. INVESTMENT: NO CONTRACT
Writing in 1992 the U.S. Commerce Department stated that, "The United States is by far the largest foreign investor with an estimated $120 million [$90 million excluding inventory] invested in Haiti as of early 1991. With the exception of several oil companies and banks (Texaco, Exxon, Bank of Boston, Citibank), U.S. investment is almost entirely in the assembly sector."73 U.S. investment is estimated to represent over 90 percent of total foreign investment in Haiti.

Also, 95 percent of Haiti's light manufacturing exports are destined for the U.S. markets.

What have been the social results accompanying this U.S. investment?

In 1982, the U.S. Labor Department observed that, "There is a long history of government repression of the labor movement in Haiti." Not surprisingly then, "The organized labor movement in Haiti is almost non-existent." However, "investment and assembly-type opportunities in Haiti are excellent because of Haiti's low labor costs."

If we leap ahead to 1990, the U.S. Labor Department is still convinced that "dexterous, low-cost unskilled labor [all] remain selling points for labor-intensive assembly operations in Haiti".

Nor has the labor rights situation changed all that much. According to the Labor Department's 1990 report "Worker Rights in Export Processing Zones":

It appears that while freedom of association, the right to strike, and to organize are legally provided to all workers in Haiti, in reality few workers enjoy such rights whether employed in export processing operations or local firms.

74

To the Labor Department, "it appears that many employees of the export industry are not in fact willing to bargain with trade unions." Also, "many employers, domestic and foreign, still question the legitimacy of unions."75 In fact, there is not one single collective bargaining agreement in effect in Haiti's assembly sector.

Once again, what happened to the progressive element of the private sector that USAID was nurturing?

During the 1980's USAID spent millions to promote foreign investment in Haiti's assembly sector, while the continuing violation of internationally recognized worker rights in the export processing zones remained nearly untouched.

Given that USAID was working with U.S. companies and U.S. Haitian joint ventures, the job of promoting worker rights should not have been insurmountable.

Roopy, July 18 2010, 3:20 PM

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