Batay Ouvriye

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Batay Ouvriye ( Creole from French Bataille Ouvrière , German workers' struggle ) is a grassroots trade union organization in Haiti .

Batay Ouvriye was founded in 2000 by workers from a supplier for the French liqueur company Cointreau , Guacimal , in Saint-Raphaël to the north . The organization supports the establishment of trade unions and the training of workers in questions of labor law . The organization is headed by Yannick Etienne and is organized throughout Haiti with the exception of two departments. Batay Ouvriye had 5,000 members in 2007.

Batay Ouvriye sees itself as an alternative to the traditional unions. In addition to defending the rights of wage and agricultural workers, it supports the demands of dependent self-employed and the unemployed. In society as a whole, she fights for democratic structures. She also participates in international debates and disputes. The union demands against multinational corporations like adidas , Disney , Levi Strauss , C&A and H&M are represented in solidarity with the workforce in other countries. Disney produces children's clothing in so-called sweat shops in Haiti at an hourly rate of 28 US cents.

As of 2003, the following were specifically supported:

  • the organization of textile workers in the free trade zones of the Dominican Republic ,
  • the organization of workers in the free trade zones of Central America , Mexico and the Caribbean ,
  • the struggle of women workers in the free trade zones of Guatemala against the gender- specific guidelines of employers,
  • the organization of reporting on the meeting of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in Brussels against multinational corporations from the textile industry ,
  • the conference on independent monitoring in the USA, at which the problems with the companies Disney, Nike , Wal-Mart and Keymart were discussed,
  • an international briefing tour on the union fight against Disney.

After the coup in Haiti in 2004, there has been speculation that the organization received US $ 3,500 from the Solidarity Center , an organization affiliated with the CIA and State Department .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sonja Wenger: Union base work. In: WOZ of March 22, 2007
  2. ↑ cf. BO website, 2003
  3. ↑ Jean Ziegler : The new rulers of the world. Munich 2003. Walt Disney . jedermensch.net. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
  4. ↑ cf. Website of the BO
  5. ↑ cf. also: Claudia Thallmayer: Dirty business. Clothing companies in the dock. Clean Clothes, campaign for fair working conditions worldwide ( Clean Clothes )
  6. ↑ Explanation: Independent monitoring / independent control of working conditions in the global textile industry
  7. ↑ Jeb Sprague : Batay Ouvriye's Smoking Gun . In: Znet . January 10, 2006. Retrieved June 20, 2011.

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