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SANTO DOMINGO. - A survey by an international agency found that farm, construction and domestic workers are exploited directly and indirectly in the Dominican Republic and even have no access to the Labor Code and Social Security.

Solidarity Center director Alexander Aleman said the study used 513 domestics and 341 farm workers from the towns San Luis and Guerra in Monte Plata and Santo Domingo provinces, which showed that in most cases those people work under harassment, mistreatment and without labor rights.

The domestic maids vowed to start fighting for the rights and to be recognized by Law, said Monte Plata Home Workers Association president Victoria Garcia.  

In that regard the nationwide unions grouped in the CNUS said the same occurs with the Haitians who work in construction.

It said those domestic and farm workers are “invisible” because there are no reliable registries on them.

The Solidarity Center based in Washington has offices in 24 countries where it aims to forge a global union movement, bolstering the workers’ economic and political power around the world, through independent and democratic unions.

SOURCE: diariolibre.com

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COMMENTS
8 comment(s)
Written by: lovingit, 16 Sep 2010 10:20 PM
From: United States, Delaware
And we needed a survey to tell us that? These are the peons of our society, and because of that, people without heart, treat them like sh^t. I would say go ahead and unite, because without you, these heartless bastards wouldn't be able to feed themselves.
Written by: Atabey, 17 Sep 2010 6:47 AM
From: United States, NYC
Be careful what you wish for lovinit. Here's a little story with BIG implications for the above. Check Chile's stats

"After moving in one direction for decades, turning in the opposite direction is not easy. It is not easy to internalize that yesterday's truths and core concepts were mistaken. I remember a question asked by Chilean labor lawyer to a government official in Hong Kong during a visit by a Chilean government and business mission to that country in the late seventies. They showed us impressive evidence of the economy's dynamism, and the lawyer asked: "Yes, that's all very well, but what is the minimum wage and where are the laws protecting workers?" The official, without batting an eyelid, answered with another question: "Do you want us to suffer unemployment? With the enormous amount of Chinese immigrants that we have annually, and the terrible poverty conditions in which they come to our country, our challenge is to expand employment, not obstruct it." - Büchi, p. 95
Written by: anthonyC, 17 Sep 2010 9:54 AM
From: United States


Being "exploited" is a voluntary act.
Written by: vacanos, 17 Sep 2010 11:49 AM
From: United States, An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.


LOL if this is a big joke? I didn't read the article just the cover. Hint: are they working for peanuts?
Are they mostly illegal? These people have no right to whines about it.

It reminds me of watching the news yesterday on a Spanish channel reporting about illegal aliens being underpaid in some Domino's pizza store in Manhattan. The reason they got those jobs is because they are doing it for peanuts. Who are these people after they take the job and work for a long time says that they were robbed WHEN THEY AGREED IN THE FIRST PLACE. If they were not happy the second "they were abused” WHY NOT LEAVE. The thing is that now the ultra liberal in sanctuary state like New York is encouraging illegal to come out and denounce their boss.
Written by: Carpintero, 22 Sep 2010 2:54 PM
From: Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic
Using the threat of unemployment to force people to accept low wages and unfair working conditions ultimately keeps everyone down except the very rich who control the system. So, Anthony C and vacanos, I hope you are among he very rich. If not, you're being used.
Written by: Atabey, 22 Sep 2010 6:16 PM
From: United States, NYC
Carpintero,

I think you misunderstand what's at stake here. It is not that people are forever to be under the plight of low wage earning, it's that for an economy to develop and jobs to be plentiful a nation that establishes higher wages than the productivity of labor warrants will be at a competitive disadvantage relative to other economies around the world. Investment flows will stop entering the nation with higher wages relative to their labor productivity. It has nothing to do with being "blood suckers" or "exploiters" It's all about creating conditions conducive to capital investments that over time, with good business management, good fiscal and monetary management on the part of the national government will establish the foundations for the development of better paying jobs over time. If you look at South Korea during the late 1950s, they were poorer than the people of the Dominican Republic!
Written by: Atabey, 22 Sep 2010 6:19 PM
From: United States, NYC
But under tremendous sacrifice, I'm talking low wages here, a military dictatorship, strong educational commitment, government promotion of targeted industrial development, participation in Export Led Industrialization. South Korea has developed an advanced industrial and capital rich society in 40 years. There were difficult moments, it was not all smooth going; there were moments of repression, killings, massive labor unrest, student demonstrations, etc., but the nation advanced and today it's a thriving economic machine. A success story. In Latin America, Chile stands out for having a sound economic machine and again it's interesting that like South Korea it too underwent a difficult and bloody dictatorship and came out of it with a better economic foundation. Some would say that a strong hand at the helm is needed for the establishment of the sound economic underpinnings necessary for economic development.
Written by: Atabey, 22 Sep 2010 6:29 PM
From: United States, NYC
That by giving the process of economic modernity the requisite time frame for maturation a dictatorship should not be discounted. Perhaps it is so, I beg to differ. But it would have been great had these difficult growing pangs of modernity occurred during the dictatorship of Trujillo. Unfortunately for us the US thought otherwise, and Trujillo himself was not really interested in developing major domestic economic power bases outside of his own, which would have hindered the process tremendously. Sadly, Balaguer didn't jump at an opportunity offered by the USA in 1966 and the repression and bloodshed that followed wasn't used as productively as in South Korea and Chile-if we accept the theory! So we are left with this precarious state of affairs. Different sectors pushing and pulling at cross purposes at time, like today during the meeting on Productivity. Hopefully these clowns get their act together and right the ship before the domestic base seeks violence over reason
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