NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5990

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Subject: Dominican Union Leader on Labor Struggles
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 Via The NY Transfer News Service ~ All the News that Doesn't Fit

            Dominican Labor Leader on Union Struggles

                        By Veronica Golos
                             New York

On July 24, Secretary General Mayra Jimenez of the United
Federation of Workers in the Free Zones in the Dominican Republic
spoke here at the headquarters of health and hospital workers'
union Local 1199.

Jimenez is fighting for the rights and dignity of workers in the
"zona franca" or Free Zone. Free trade zones were set up in the
Dominican Republic in the 1970s, under the auspices of the
International Monetary Fund. Jimenez explained that previously
"our role was to supply the world market with sugar, coffee,
cocoa and tobacco. Now, with the Tax Free Zone, we supply cheap
labor which guarantees high capital gain.

"This not only keeps low wages and pitiful working conditions in
the Dominican Republic but also affects the conditions of workers
of developed nations that originate the capital investment in our
countries," she said.

Today there are 400 companies and 140,000 jobs in 23 tax-free
industrial complexes. The zones' development has shifted the
economy away from the sugar cane industry.

Seventy percent of workers in the Tax Free Zone are women. Thirty
percent are from rural areas. These women's wages are 14 times
lower than what is paid for the same jobs in the United States.
The minimum wage in the Dominican Republic for private companies
is equal to 100 dollars a month -- a twentieth of what a worker in
the U.S. would earn.

"As in other aspects of our society," Jimenez explained, "women
are the object of discrimination in the Tax Free Zones, although
they constitute the majority of the workers. Pregnant women are
denied jobs; and if they become pregnant while on the job, they
are laid off." In addition, for women who have children already,
there are no child-care facilities in the zones. Mothers have to
pay for child care -- frequently, a third of their salaries.

"In order to go to the bathroom," Jimenez said, "women get
tickets from the boss. You're allotted three chances a day."

But Jimenez said: "The most serious problem is sexual harassment.
Anyone who has authority over a woman employee feels he has the
right to sexual favors."

Terrible working conditions

Low wages, long hours, companies evading payments for health care
and refusing to follow health and safety regulations -- all add up
to terrible working conditions in the Tax Free Zones. Repression
is constant, and companies circulate a "black list". The nature
and intensity of work makes it difficult for workers to organize,
as does the lack of resources and transportation. Because of
this, unions in the zones organize through the community.

Organizers had to battle the companies' fear tactics, as well as
specific sexual harassment of women organizers by supervisors and
management. For example, in June 1987 near San Pedro de Macoris,
a manager kicked a pregnant worker. Twenty thousand workers
marched demanding respect for human rights, an end to layoffs,
and to have the boss pay for his crime. The case is still in
court.

These are the conditions that have led to continued union
organizing by such people as Mayra Jimenez. When she was only 20
years old, Jimenez had already been working in the Tax Free Zones
five years before she became an organizer.

Because of efforts like hers, today there are 20 labor unions in
the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, 14 in San Pedro de
Marcoris, and six in La Romana. "Even though we have accomplished
a great deal," Jimenez explained, "the companies continue the
practice of massive layoffs of workers who want to organize. We
have an average of 25 layoffs daily."

Organizing in the Free Tax Zones began in earnest in 1987 when
the country was almost sanctioned for violating workers' right to
organize unions and for violations of human rights. "The
government had to permit the organization of labor unions in the
zones. It was an admission that in fact we were right -- workers
were denied the right to organize in the Tax Free Zones," said
Jimenez.

"It is necessary that we organize the workers from the Zones so
that they obtain better working conditions. The companies will
have to realize their obligations and learn to live with it,"
Jimenez concluded.

                               -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "[e-mail]".)

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