Factory - Haiti Observer Blog

On Thursday, December 17, 2015, Haitian President Michel Martelly, participated in the official opening of the first Haitian Industrial Shoemaking Factory at the Boulevard Toussaint Louverture (Airport Road). This high technology shoe factory is a creation from the initiative of JL Fine Shoes S.A. to contribute and revitalize Haitian economy through domestic production by feeding local consumption. As a token for encouragement, President Martelly has offered SurTab tablet to each employee of the company which would be given to them after successful completion of required training to join the factory. The factory would create immediate employment of 150 personnel, and within the next 2 years it expects to offer 1,200 permanent jobs.

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Employers in the Haitian garment manufacturing industry are exploiting their workers as a dirt-cheap form of labor, as well as forcing them to work under unsafe conditions in violation of laws governing the industry. Garment workers are drastically underpaid, on average 32% less than minimum wage requirements. The standard pay rate is $4.54 per eight-hour shift. If they make their quota for the day they receive $6.81. The quotas are set are unrealistically high, the better for employers to avoid paying an extra $2.27 per day.

Henri-Claude Muller-Poitevien, who heads the government of Haiti's Garment Sector Commission (GSC), has an explanation why garment workers can't meet the daily quota. He says they are less able, and need practice to work faster and more competently.

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Sae-A trading, a Garment Company from South Korea plans to open its factory in Haiti and create 20,000 jobs. The factory will be located in the new industrial park located in the North of the country, away from the Republic of Port-au-Prince. The new park is expected to create more than 65,000 jobs and about 5,000 homes nearby.

In 1990, there were over 100,000 garment workers in Haiti. This has decreased to 28,000 today. The Haitian Prime Minister Bellerive admitted that this new deal with the South Korean Garment Company will be the biggest foreign investment in Haiti ever.

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