Haiti Garment Workers Launch Another Protest Over $12.47 Per Day Wages
Garment workers have taken to the streets of the Haitian capital for the second time in two weeks to demand a minimum wage increase. The workers at factories making T-shirts, pants and other apparel were also demonstrating Monday against the firing of roughly 40 union members at a Port-au-Prince industrial park. Reginald Lanfontant is a union coordinator and one of the fired workers. He asserts the dismissals are “abusive” and demonstrations will continue.
They’re demanding 800 Haitian gourdes per eight-hour work day. Based on current exchange rates, that’s roughly $12.47 per day. They now earn 300 gourdes, or $4.67.
Retired Army Officer Charged With Bribery on Haiti Port Project
Joseph Baptiste, of Fulton, Md., was arrested on Aug. 29 and charged with one count of conspiring to break the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and launder funds, DOJ says.
Federal officials allege that Baptiste, 64, sought bribes from undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, who were pretending to be possible investors in the project, located in what DOJ said was Moles Saint Nicolas, in northwestern Haiti.