This anniversary coincides with that of the WFTU, which is celebrating its 80^th anniversary, a world trade union federation of class and mass struggle. CATH salutes its efforts and wishes the WFTU a long life. Today, CATH, as a member of the Trade Union International of Leather, Clothing, Textiles, and Footwear workers and the Trade Union International of Pensioners and Retirees, notes that all struggles to change the living conditions of workers encounter enormous obstacles that are difficult to overcome (low wages, the high cost of living, mistreatment of workers in the workplace, systematic violations of their rights, dismissals without apparent cause, non-payment of workers’ contributions to the Old Age Insurance (ONA) pensions and the Workplace Accident, Sickness and Maternity Insurance Office (OFATMA) benefits, etc.). These obstacles have led not only to the degeneration of the country but also to the deepening poverty of our workers.

What are the root causes of this situation? For more than three (3) decades, Haiti has experienced only shadow governments appointed by the global capitalist and imperialist system, exploiting the labor force of our workers. These visionless, irresponsible, careless, and useless leaders are working for the destruction of their country. They prefer to join the so-called “state banditry” to decimate an entire defenseless people for the benefit of capitalist and imperialist countries that want to suck the blood of our workers at all costs. Therefore, banditry is a vicious lever of exploitation.

CATH, as a class-based and mass trade union organization, cannot associate itself with unhealthy and unacceptable initiatives. CATH denounces with repugnance the destructive policies pursued by the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT), which fail to take into account the situation of the Haitian people, particularly workers and pensioners.

More than 97% of the Haitian capital has been handed over to terrorists, in full view of the CPT. This is intentional and planned. May 18, the date on which the Haitian people celebrate their flag and university, is seen as a secondary event because the government cannot celebrate it in its usual location due to the occupation of that site by the desired and planned terrorists. The location of the May 18 celebration has been transferred this year to Cap-Haïtien following the security crisis. What a shame for the government and the CPT! The leaders placed at the head of state solely to steal and plunder resources have failed in their republican responsibilities. They cannot give any satisfaction to the Haitian people, knowing that corruption is the rule.

The CATH notes that: The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) spent a year doing nothing, disregarding the Haitian people; 2. The referendum promised by this government team failed miserably, even though the leaders already know the extent of the security crisis and constitute a blockage. The leaders persisted until failure to save bonuses, per diems, etc.

The government is not taking any security measures to protect the Haitian population (for example, the territories controlled by terrorists are increasing, namely: Kenscoff, Pétion-ville, Delmas, Port-au-Prince, Croix-des-Bouquets, Gressier, Artibonite, Mirebalais, Carrefour, Arcahaie, etc.) and they have issued threats to take over other important municipalities.

CATH demands:

An adjustment of the minimum wage to 2,500 gourdes ($19.14);

The unconditional departure of the useless, disengaged, and irresponsible members of the CPT.

Long live the workers’ struggle!
Long live CATH!
May peace reign in Haiti!
Thank you!

Louis Fignole SAINT-CYR
General Secretary
Autonomous Center of Haitian Workers (CATH)

The post CATH Position on its 40th Anniversary, Which Coincide With the 80th Anniversary of the WFTU first appeared on Labor Today.

The Autonomous Center of Haitian Workers (CATH), a class-based trade union organization operating in Haiti for 40 years, extends its renewed compliments for all the unconditional support provided to the Haitian trade union struggle in defense and promotion of workers’ rights.

CATH also asks you to join your affiliated organizations and friends in coming to the aid of a defenseless and oppressed people, particularly workers. To this end, CATH takes this opportunity to provide you with a brief overview of the Haitian crisis to better understand the merits of its approach.

1. The Political Situation

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on the night of July 7, 2021, the Republic of Haiti has been mired in an unprecedented security, political, social, and economic crisis. The first independent Black Republic has collapsed. “Liberty, equality, and fraternity”, the motto of the Republic of Haiti, are being vilified by those in power under the orders of imperialists and armed gangs. This historic turning point was predictable due to the obsolescence of governance (irresponsibility, lack of vision, laxity, and incompetence of leaders). It was the beginning of the process of destruction and deconstruction of the State of Haiti.

Governance is currently ensured by a Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) composed of nine (9) members. It was born out of a political compromise with CARICOM under the instigation of the United States of America. This governance, lacking vision and plan, established and controlled by CARICOM, a Caribbean organization that manages the interests of imperialist powers, is incapable of satisfying the wishes of the Haitian people and those of the workers. This model of governance constitutes a source of instability, plunder, corruption, and laissez-faire.

This transitional governance, lacking vision, program, or project, obsolete, irresponsible, profiteering, corrupt, and irrational, only aggravates the situation of a Republic already in agony. Moreover, the state’s meager resources are being wasted, corruption is rife in the public administration, money laundering is gaining ground within financial institutions, state terrorism is spreading throughout the country, and so on. The state is a stakeholder in the decline of the Republic of Haiti and the misery of the Haitian people living on land they have sold, which they must vacate and return to their masters. However, the Haitian people must unite to fight and expel these neo-colonizers and this barbaric system to restore a livable country for the entire Haitian nation, and for workers in particular.

Elections have not been held for five years. The political leadership has not been legally renewed. Judges’ terms have expired. Institutions are not up to their mission. Democracy has collapsed, and the dictatorship of terrorism is taking its place. The capital, Port-au-Prince, has become a lawless place. In short, it is a complete political failure.

This capitalist government is abandoning more than 50 administrative buildings, representing the symbol of the state, to armed gangs. Haiti has fallen under a vast political conspiracy orchestrated in the shadows by imperialist powers who apply two philosophical doctrines: the Monroe Doctrine, “America for the Americans,” and that of Franklin Delano Rosevelt, “We must unite the barefoot against the shoe-wearing; it’s the only way to make them unstable and dominate them.” They are making the Haitian people pay for their insolence and arrogance in being the First Independent Black Republic and land of freedom. It should be noted that the gangs were united by the United Nations Integrated Office for Haiti (BINUH) through Ms. Helen Lalime.

The Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) and the armed gangs work for the same master. They were established to deconstruct the Republic of Haiti.

2. Socioeconomic Situation

The Haitian people are dominated and exploited. He is fooled by the outrageous profiteering imposed by factory owners. The daily wage is very low: $4.50 received by factory employees for an 8-hour workday, $280 monthly for a primary school teacher, $250 monthly for a nurse, $300 monthly for a middle manager in the public administration, etc.

Workers have suffered harassment and stigmatization, their rights are systematically violated, and gender equality is not respected.

Overall, almost all businesses have relocated or closed their doors. This is leading to massive job losses, which are synonymous with unemployment and poverty. Before the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the textile sector employed 65,000 workers, and this workforce has now fallen to 21,000. This gives an idea of ​​the seriousness of the situation facing the working class and the Haitian population in general.

Today, with this untenable situation, CATH has 1,235 workers and managers who have been forced by gangs to abandon their homes. 85% of them were tenants who are currently living in tents in extremely cramped conditions.

The Haitian population is made up of 12.5 million people, half of whom live below the poverty line. This crisis is leading to an increase in prostitution, mortality, mental illness, delinquency, armed gang hotbeds, etc. Worse still, children aged 10 to 17 are being used as soldiers and scouts in armed gangs. More than a million people are being forced into involuntary displacement under pressure from armed gangs in Western countries within the capitalist system.

3. Security Situation

The country’s security situation is taking on a disorganized and uncontrollable character. Armed gangs have become more powerful, and the state is complicit. Thousands of Haitians are dying every day. The capital and its suburbs are in flames daily. Thousands of family homes are being destroyed, and 300,000 families are being displaced by armed gangs. Each family has an average of 5 to 7 dependents. These displaced families are scattered across shelter camps, across the provinces, on the streets and under the stars. Their access to food and drink is difficult. They find themselves without protection, without housing.

Armed gangs are destroying the small economy of the Haitian masses. The capital’s public ports and airport are closed, and those of the capitalist private sector operate timidly. Those that do operate are businesses owned by capitalists. The state is almost dysfunctional. Everything depends on the whims of the gangs.

Land transportation routes are blocked (National Routes 2, 3, 4, etc.). Only one road is functioning: the one connecting Port-au-Prince and Cap Haïtien, passing through Morne à Cabri, Mirebalais, Savanette, Thomonde, and Hinche, all the way to Cap Haïtien. The population is struggling to obtain supplies. However, gangs must be paid a toll, which they set arbitrarily and illegally. The illicit economic market is thriving, with drugs, organ trafficking, money laundering, and smuggling. The exchange rate has skyrocketed: 135 Haitian gourdes for 1 US dollar. Basic necessities are skyrocketing. In short, small businesses are virtually paralyzed.

In reality, Haiti’s subsoil contains more wealth (mines, oil, natural gas) than any other country on the planet. Hence the interest of capitalist countries in maintaining the status quo in Haiti. Stateless people are putting themselves at their service to exacerbate the crisis. A handful of people and capitalist countries are leveraging their opulence against workers and the Haitian population.

Inflation is eating into the population’s budget. Over the past five years, the toll has been very high, as the following indicators demonstrate:

• GINI Index: 0.41
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): US$1.693 in 2023
• Population: 12.5 million inhabitants
• Economic contraction rate: -1.9% (according to data from international institutions); GDP contraction rate: -0.4%
• HDI (Human Development Index): 0.552
• 158th out of 159 countries;
• Slowdown in investment spending;
• Budget deficit: 0.60% of GDP
• Debt: 15.2% of GDP in 2024
• Inflation rate: 29.3% in 2024;
• 36.6% of the population lives on less than $2.15 USD;
• 54,000 homes destroyed and 88,700 damaged during the August 14, 2021 earthquake in the south of the country and not yet rebuilt;
• 18,694 people shot dead by gangs, including around 100 textile workers;
• 8,863 people burned by gangs;
• 300,000 families displaced by gang violence;
• 5.4 million Haitians struggle to feed themselves;
• More than 1,000,000 displaced people, scattered throughout the country;

These figures demonstrate the poverty in Haiti.

From all the above, the Haitian crisis is dismal.

The Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers (CATH/FSM) is outraged by this shameful and disgraceful situation. On this basis, CATH calls on all class-based workers’ movements to raise awareness in their respective communities to help Haiti emerge from this quagmire.
CATH would like to ask you for further financial support to help its members and staff in difficulty. If this would be convenient for you, here are the banking details for the necessary follow-up:

• Bank Name: SOGEBANK
• Bank Address: Rte Nationale # 1, Lathan, PAP-Haïti
• Bank Swift: SOGHHTPP
• Account Name: CATH-REDD (Centrale Autonome des Travailleurs Haïtiens)
• Account No.: 2016001659
• Account Currency: $USD

Together, we stand in solidarity to support the weakest people in humanitarian crises, and all the oppressed peoples of the planet.

Sincerely yours!

For CATH/WFTU,
Louis Fignole St. CYR
General Secretary
Autonomous Center of Haitian Workers

The post HAITI: An Analysis of the Haitian Security Crisis Coupled with Economic Recession first appeared on Labor Today.

Manager Responsible for the CODEVI Free Zone,

Mr. Manager,

The General Secretariat of the Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers (CATH) greets you and takes this opportunity to announce a day of strike across the entire CODEVI fleet (in all factories) of CODEVI on Thursday, February 20, 2025. In view of CODEVI’s refusal to respond to our demands included in the letter dated January 30, 2025, sent at your convenience by email and in person and you have received a meeting proposal also sent by the Office of the Mediator (BMST) to attempt to begin negotiations on all of the aforementioned points.

Unfortunately, CODEVI refused all dialogue and negotiation initiatives. This shows how important disregard for the law and work-related institutions are to you. If our demands are not met, the strike will continue the following week on February 26 and February 27, 2025.

The CATH’s position is based on articles 203, 204 and 207 of the labor code in force and ILO conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the collective agreement ratified by Haiti to remind you of your kind attention, Mr. Manager, that the points raised in the letter of January 30 remain unresolved. C.C: To Buyers, the International Classist Trade Union Movement, US Congressmen, MAST, BNST and the national press BNST and the national and international press.

The post HAITI: CATH Statement on CODEVI Strike first appeared on Labor Today.

In addition, you’ve been running the country with nothing to show for it. Rather, you bear the mark of the immoral, the corrupted, submissive, revisited and corrected morons.

Mr Enex Jean Charles, former Prime Minister, you’ve never been one of the people who defend the country. You don’t inspire confidence in the nation. You have no backbone. That’s why you’re at the head of this mafia commission. You are rather like the businessmen, money-seekers and squanderers who build their opulence on the backs of the State. You have never taken a stand on behalf of the Haitian people at any time in history.

As for Professor Gracien Jean, you’re missing the point. The work for which the Government has appointed you is not worthy of you. Coming from Cité Soleil you used to take correct positions. You knew how to take correct democratic positions, defending social justice, equity and ideological pluralism. The CATH doesn’t understand how you could agree to do such a “dirty job”.

The best thing to do is to withdraw from this dead-end quagmire. You are risking your personality as a political scientist, a professor, and a good example for young people you had in the past. If we take into account the latest letter from a group on your mafia-like steering committee, the shenanigans surrounding your personality, the masterpiece or trademark of your career. Unfortunately, Professor Gracien Jean let himself be drawn into the net of evil. The CATH is fed up with hearing that every single person involved in your messy constitutional construction site receives 700,000.00 Gourdes as a token of attendance.

Mr. Enex Jean Charles, you’re very smart not to accept a fixed salary, as you always were. CATH has heard that the referendum will cost the Haitian state between 60 and 90 million dollars. Surely you’re going to hang on to the sum of 90 million. What a shame for you gentlemen. CATH would like you to establish for the country and the Haitian people the difference between those who fly with their feathers and those who fly with their weapons.

The CATH urges you gentlemen to stop right there, if you really have a modicum of dignity in you, of respect for your family and the Haitian people. By accepting this job, you’re putting yourselves on a high-altitude peak between a venomous snake and a lion. This means you won’t be able to move forward, backward, left or right. You’re already caught between the anvil and the hammer and the vice is tightening on you more and more.

How can you offer a referendum to a people whose constitution is not their main problem?

How can you offer a constitutional referendum to a people who have been subjected to violence and who are constantly demanding freedom, security, housing, employment, food, health, education, respect for their social, economic, political and cultural rights, social justice, justice and the fair distribution of the country’s wealth?

Considering all the above, here’s what’s in store for you:

• Flee to a new destination to avoid becoming victims of the fights that this referendum will entail;
• The Haitian people’s refusal to change the constitution;
• The closure of polling stations before the deadline;
• A general uprising of the already frustrated population;

Yours sincerely,

Louis Fignole St. Cyr
General Secretary

Signed in Port-au-Prince, February 12, 2025.

The post HAITI: CATH Open Letter to Mr. Enex Jean Charles & Gracien Jean first appeared on Labor Today.

The General Secretariat of the CATH notes with indignation the inhumane way in which CODEVI has treated its workers. The treatment inflicted on workers is even worse in the production chain of all CODEVI companies. The management vilified their rights. They believe that Haitian workers have no rights.

The General Secretariat of the CATH reminds you that Haitian workers are resilient and, as a result, they can react at any time to enforce their rights. CODEVI’s leaders had treated them like slaves. Where the rights of CODEVI’s leaders end, their own rights begin.

The CATH says no to these actions and protests against this disloyal behavior towards workers. The attitude of CODEVI’s directors is that of aphids that suck the blood of workers in order to consolidate their opulence on the pretext that these workers are fools and/or idiots. These leaders join forces with certain corrupt Haitian leaders to exploit these poor workers.

The CATH reminds you that these workers are human beings and, as such, they must provide their labor force with dignity and respect for standards.

At the end of 2024, AM1 dismissed 115 workers in violation of their rights and of the collective bargaining and freedom of association ratified by Haiti. This dismissal is considered a disgrace and an act of barbarism comparable to the Trujillo era, which massacred tens of thousands of Haitians.

CODEVI usually dons the Trujillo costume to repeat history by murdering workers throughout its existence. What horror on the part of these leaders!

The unions have signed a collective agreement with CODEVI, which is transforming into CADAVI. CODEVI’s management systematically violates this agreement. CATH reminds CODEVI that Haiti is the land of JEAN JACQUES DESSALINES and JACOBINS NOIRS. No institution or individual may violate our fundamental rights and individual freedom in general.

In the face of all this, the CATH General Secretariat demands that:

• CODEVI pay the 115 workers illegally dismissed by AM1;
• CODEVI to begin immediate negotiations on the issue of adjustment of wages to around 4,500 Gourdes within CODEVI.
• CODEVI applies the collective agreement in its entirety,
• CODEVI respects workers’ rights in all companies;
• CODEVI to re-evaluating prices at the supermarket, because the products in supermarkets are much more expensive than those on the parallel market;
• CODEVI takes swift and severe action against sexual harassment, which is a widespread practice, especially for women, particularly those who have been dismissed;
• CODEVI will immediately open face-to-face and virtual negotiations under the auspices of the BMST Mediation Bureau and the CATH. The highlighted points identified, without which CODEVI will see a non-stop strike;
• CODEVI to stop deducting from the income of industrial park workers industrial park workers’ income to ONA and OFATMA, to prevent the money from going up in smoke; etc.

It should be noted that during the negotiations, CATH chose four (4) representatives including two representatives of the revoked workers and two active comrades within CODEVI.

The post HAITI: CATH Letter to CODEVI Management first appeared on Labor Today.

Dear Comrades,

The Centrale Autonome des Travailleurs Haitiens (CATH), a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the UIS TEXGAL, draws the attention of the world trade union movement to the infamy suffered by the Haitian working masses at the instigation of the G20, which will meet in Brazil on February 22.

After the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021, the CORE GROUP (Association of Destructive and Criminal Ambassadors of the G20 and allied countries in Haiti) imposed on the Haitian people a gangly system well composed of traitors to the homeland equipped with large weapons of war to bog down the country in the mud and destroy human lives for the benefit of their interests. The CORE GROUP, in violation of the Haitian constitution, imposed Prime Minister Ariel Henry to run the country, a rump of the imperialist powers, and accused of complicity in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, according to some human rights and press organizations, far from taking initiatives to curb this phenomenon of insecurity it only reinforces it to the detriment of the Haitian people. It’s a form of governance that is inactive, miserable, criminal, visionless, irrational and lacking in political programs and projects for the country’s sustainable development. CATH retorts against this governance of shame, as a inhuman profitable secular group, anti fatherland, anti-people.

During these 30 months of illegitimate governance by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, with the support of imperialist countries, Haiti is experiencing the worst moment of its existence. Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s close ties with armed groups have led to the closure of dozens of businesses throughout the country, putting almost all Haitian workers (over 16,000 in the textile industry) out of work with no hope of resuming their activities as they relocate to other countries in the region. This imperialist governance creates the conditions for all kinds of calamities, including:

• Over five thousand (5,000) murders in 2023 under the dictation of imperialist countries;
• Thousands of kidnappings in exchange for the release of poor people;
• Thousands of women/girls of all ages are raped and abused by armed gangs;
• Thousands of children and young offenders enlisted as soldiers in gang armies;
• More than 450,000 internally displaced people fleeing attacks, gang fury and repeated violence with no apparent cause, abandoning their homes to take refuge on the streets, with a friend, under a tree, in national high schools and schools with no hope of a better tomorrow;

CATH calls on trade unionists around the world, and particularly those in Brazil, to help the Haitian people in their unprecedented distress, and to urge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to intervene with the G-20, asking him at the very least to respect the sovereignty of the Haitian people, and to accept that an integral judge from the Court of Cassation be installed as provisional President in accordance with the constitution, to direct, stabilize and organize democratic and transparent elections, so that the country can return to constitutional order, the sine qua non condition for reviving employment to the satisfaction of Haitian workers. Dear friends and comrades, we would like to have your trade unionist and militant solidarity, because the internationalist solidarity of the class-oriented workers’ movement is the ideal way to get Haiti out of its current situation.

Long live the Haitian labor movement and the people of Haiti!
Long live the independent class-oriented workers’ movement!
Long live democracy!
Death to capitalist and imperialist destroyers of the working class!

Louis Fignole ST CYR
General Secretary

The post HAITI: CATH Letter World Movement of Democratic Trade Unions and Trade Union Comrades of Brazil first appeared on Labor Today.