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Is That Sweatshop, $2 A Day For Factory Workers In Haiti?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 06:43 AM ET
I am totally confused with this sweatshop business. Is the decision by the Haitian government to support a salary of $2.00 a day for Haitian factory worker the same as supporting sweatshop in Haiti?
Is it or isn't better to create employment in Haiti at this time?
What about the law of supply and demand. Haitian businesses have the jobs and the Haitian workers are willing to do it for the price offered?
Do Haitian workers have a bargaining chips or what can we provide to the workforce?
Definition od Sweatshop:
A Sweatshop is a working environment with unhealthy conditions that are considered by many people of industrialized nations to be difficult or dangerous, usually where the workers have few opportunities to address their situation. This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for little pay, regardless of any laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labor laws may also be violated.
This is a video report on sweatshops in Haiti:
Some will say, people in Haiti choose to work in those factories sweatshops because these factories offer them higher wages and better working conditions compared to their previous jobs of manual farm labor. Consider the fact that many people in Haiti can't find job. Isn't it better to earn something instead of nothing? They also argue that sweatshops are an early step in the process of technological and economic development whereby a poor country turns itself into a rich country.
On the other hand, Haitian workers are making on average, $2 a day at these shops. What can $2.00 buy in Haiti at this time? The last time I checked, not much.
Another thing to consider, president Rene Preval was a replacement for ousted president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was an advocate for raising minimum salary in Haiti.
I do not have the answer,
What do you think?
Reader Comments (4)
Kaoukaw says:
Re: Is That Sweatshop, $2 A Day For Factory Workers...
$2 a day is a joke because I spend sometime in Haiti recently so you can't begin to imagine how hard it is for those people. The government should do something about it, at least $5 a day.
Jean Jacques says:
Re: Is That Sweatshop, $2 A Day For Factory Workers In Haiti?
HOW CAN YOU DENY THAT IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING, BUT, IN THE SAME TOKEN HOW CAN ANY HUMAN BEING TAKE ADVANGE OF SUCH PROPORTION AND FOR OUR OWN GOV'T TO ENDORSE THIS $2 ADAY ABUSE OF THE HAITIAN PEOPLE. GOD WILL SEND THEM A SAVIOR.
Lucien Pierre says:
Re: Is That Sweatshop, $2 A Day For Factory Workers In Haiti?
If someone thinks it is a start that person might be still living in the prehistoric era. $ 2.00 a day is an insult to our people. It is less than 25 cents an hour. What the person can afford with $2.00? Please tell me! Am I dreaming. If it was $ 8.00 a day at least I could entertain the idea that it is a start, but $ 2.00 you must be kidding me.
Edith Bertrand says:
Re: Is That Sweatshop, $2 A Day For Factory Workers...
Well, it's a start. These people are sitting in their asses waiting for their relatives overseas to send them a few bucks and all (by the way these relatives overseas are making mininimum wages also and can barely support themselves). They need work, and since their Governement can not use their brains to provide for them, they will have to do whatever to earn some money, even if it's 2 bucks a day. I will say to the Haitian governement, please use your brains and start working for your people. It's about time to let the world know that a black country can also be rich and prosperous. Stop letting Dessalines down. Enough is Enough.
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