Hundreds of Haiti’s national police officers took to the streets of Port-au-Prince on Sunday to demand better working conditions and the right to unionize.
“We need a union that can represent us when things aren’t good,” a member of POLIFRONT, Haiti’s Border Police unit of the National Police, told VOA Creole. “I’m talking about abuse, our meager 19,000 (Haitian gourdes) salary (about $208), which is not enough.”
Officers at times go months without pay, and are subject to long working hours, with minimal support.
“The police is a legal force, recognized by the constitution, which also gives us the right to form a union. So if the constitution allows us to form a union, that means we will have it one way or another. And we should only be working eight hours a day, according to the law.”