Disney Company rips-off Haitian workers

Disney Company rips-off Haitian workers

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Fourteen factories in Haiti produce garments and toys under for various Disney labels. Workers are paid just half of the minimum living wage in Haiti. Salaries range from US$0.28c to $0.39c an hour, equivalent to $11.20 to $15.60 per week. Workers are forced to work at an inhuman rate, suffer constant verbal abuse and threats of the sack. The majority of workers are women. They are subjected to constant sexual harassment from their supervisors.

On May 12, a leaflet protesting these abusive conditions and calling for workers to organise to defend their rights was circulated anonymously inside the L.V. Miles factory. L.V. Miles is one of the Disney Company's main contractors in Haiti.

In retaliation, management singled out a worker and sacked her, even though she was not involved in the distribution of the leaflets. That same week, three other workers were fired and a systematic campaign of intimidation began. Management threatened 40 more workers with the sack.

"By using such repressive tactics, management is clearly trying to illegally stop the workers from organising to defend their rights and to root out all suspected militant workers from the plant", the Disney/Haiti Justice Campaign said on May 18.

"Such incidents must be met with strong actions of protest and solidarity in Haiti and elsewhere every time it occurs. We call upon our brothers and sisters in the struggle to support our fight against the management of L.V. Miles in Haiti and [the Disney Company] in the USA", the campaign said.

From GLW issue 276