FIRST OF MAY BATAY OUVRIYE UNION FEDERATION
RESPONSE TO CODEVI UNSIGNED LEAFLET
July 9, 2004
Comrade workers!
Now, here is management making tracts! We say tracts because while they are the ones distributing this nasty rag, they can’t even sign it.
They say we slander, they say we lie concerning them. Is it a lie that the Dominican army entered on Haitian land where the factory is located? Is it a lie that they hit us? Is it a lie that the firings occurred with violence? The Ministry of Social Affairs itself recognized them as illegal (“illegal and abusive”).
Is it a lie that the ‘meta’ keep rising on us continuously, and we can’t stand it?
Is it a lie that we’re forced to work overtime hours and we don’t get paid for them?
Is it a lie that the vaccine, they forced us to take it, without any medical examination beforehand? Without the slightest medical or scientific explanation beforehand?
Is it a lie that Codevi was caught red-handed lying concerning a work order shortage in February whereas it wasn’t true? And so much more, and so much more…
Are these lies? Are they slander?
The truth is that Codevi management wants us quiet concerning our rights!
It doesn’t want a union decided to really stand up for the defense of workers’ rights!
Nor does it want a functional State.
The truth: is that SARA LEE didn’t say it wouldn’t work with a union, nor that it didn’t accept workers demanding their rights. Quite the contrary: IT SAID IT WOULDN’T CONTINUE WITH ORDERS AFTER 3 WEEKS IF CODEVI DIDN’T RESPECT THE DEMANDING WORKERS’ RIGHTS, if Codevi didn’t reinstate the illegally fired workers, if Codevi didn’t respect union rights, if Codevi didn’t respect the law! This is the truth.
Thanks to solidarity fighting the battle internationally, especially in the United States where Levi Strauss and Sara Lee come from, we have learned this. Solidarity is keeping up the pressure too, congratulating Sara Lee for its attitude and even asking Levi-Strauss to take a similar stand. Which tells us too how we should be careful so Codevi doesn’t let us believe the fault is the union’s or Batay Ouvriye’s, or international solidarity’s. The fault comes from Codevi management itself, whereby Levi-Strauss and Sara Lee can’t continue to be responsible for all of the repeated exactions, wheeling and dealing and stealing of Codevi against the workers and the union.
Let’s not let Codevi keep bluffing us! It’s not a small handful of us who are against this situation, it’s the large majority!
Let’s stand up to defend our rights! Codevi doesn’t love us as it says, it’s making its profits on our backs!
DOWN WITH THE BOSSES’ BLUFF! DOWN WITH THE BEATINGS WE’VE RECEIVED! DOWN WITH UNPAID OVERTIME HOURS! DOWN WITH THE TOO HIGH META!
FORWARD THE WORKERS’ STRUGGLE AT CODEVI! FORWARD THE SOKOWA (CODEVI WORKERS’ UNION)’S STRUGGLE!