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30472: Re: 30468: Spinelli (reply) The reality of Haiti (fwd)





From: loccm@aol.com


Re, reality of Haiti.  Many of us are perplexed to see so many willing workers without jobs who would be happy to earn something, at least enough to support a family.  The solution might be more complicated than it seems.  I met a man in Alabama who had gotten very wealthy supplying jeans to Wallmart.  I asked him where he had them made and he told me that they were made in Mexico.  I asked him if he had ever considered having them made in Haiti and he explained that at one time they were made in Haiti but the excessive duty that he had to pay shipping the fabric in and the duty he had to pay to ship the jeans out, made the project unprofitable.  I can't confirm this but a good friend of mine who keeps books for one of the largest companies in Haiti told me that the port in Haiti was one of the most expensive in the world.  Could it be that the government could improve the situation?  Recently there were two factories manufacturing shirts in Haiti.   Factory "a" paid about $2 a day and did not supply lunch.  Factory "b" paid about $3 a day and supplied a free lunch.  Each employed about 500 workers.  One day the workers at factory "b" went on strike and blocked the gate.  Their complaint was that they didn't like the lunch.  The factory is now closed.  It seems that there are no easy solutions in Haiti but we still have hope for a brighter future.