From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: Womens' & Labor Rights vs. Corporate Profit-Motive
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 23:26:44 GMT

    "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.
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"In order to go to the bathroom," Jimenez said, "women get  
tickets from the boss. You're allotted three chances a day." 
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    Today there are 400 companies and 140,000 jobs in 23 tax-free
    industrial complexes. "Now, with the Tax Free Zone, we supply cheap
    labor which guarantees high capital gain."
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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 companies
continue the practice of massive layoffs of workers who want to
organize. We have an average of 25 layoffs daily."
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Topic 202       Dominican Union Leader on Labor Str 
nyxfer  apc.labour       1:35 pm  Aug 21, 1992 
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From: nyxfer@panix.com (N.Y. Transfer) 
Subject: Dominican Union Leader on Labor Struggles 

 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; "workers@igc.apc.org".) 
  
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