Serious Violations Of Workers' Rights In DR

It may and probably is true but when the article is from a trade union rag it looses some credibility. What do they mean when they say child labour exploitation at resorts - enlighten me. If trade unions in the DR act like the transport union can you blame the employer for trying to stop unions.

"If trade unions in the DR act like the transport union can you blame the employer for trying to stop unions."

I seriously doubt that is the reason they want to stop unions. The transport union is more an affiliation of owners than it is a union, but in any case, no one would suggest there are not excesses on both sides. That fact does not negate the need, or the right, for workers to form unions.

"Export Processing Zones"...isn't that "Free Zones"?

One major reason companies come to FZ's is BECAUSE of the lack of union impact. Which is more economically important: going staunchly pro-union driving costs up and therefore losing the few remaining FZ manufacturers creating MORE unemployment, poverty and crime, or a pro-union position?

Wanna win the battle but lose the war?

Hasn't the DR FZ's been losing business to lower wage countries (China, Viet Nam, Singapore) already?

The unions in the DR realise this, and many have adopted a strategy of constructive engagement with the FTZ companies to ensure decent conditions for workers, because especially early on there were some terrible cases of abuse in some companies.

This is crap. The rights of Dominican workers are so well protected that most of them have wet dreams of being fired. Dominican labor unions are nothing but extortionists.

MrMike said:

This is crap. The rights of Dominican workers are so well protected that most of them have wet dreams of being fired. Dominican labor unions are nothing but extortionists.

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Is there not some merit to what MrMike is saying. The DR Labour Code and enforcement is weighted heavily in favour of the employee and thus less need of a union. Unions can be necessary in some cases, but they are not always needed and often cause more problems that they are worth. I've belonged to 2 unions in my lifetime, both large international unions that did nothing but suck money from the workers in the form of high dues.

bob saunders said:

Is there not some merit to what MrMike is saying. The DR Labour Code and enforcement is weighted heavily in favour of the employee and thus less need of a union. Unions can be necessary in some cases, but they are not always needed and often cause more problems that they are worth. I've belonged to 2 unions in my lifetime, both large international unions that did nothing but suck money from the workers in the form of high dues.

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Worked all my life for a non union company and it was the only steel mill in north America to never have a layoff or loose money. My father was a union steward and we had some great arguments over the merits of a union.

I also ran a small hotel here in Puerto Plata for 2-1/2 years and I'll vouch for the laws that are in place that protect your Dominican employees are stiff. Although I'm sure the same enforcement isn't used when you have a Dominican employer.

"The DR Labour Code and enforcement is weighted heavily in favour of the employee and thus less need of a union. Unions can be necessary in some cases, but they are not always needed and often cause more problems that they are worth. I've belonged to 2 unions in my lifetime, both large international unions that did nothing but suck money from the workers in the form of high dues."

Yes, I think there is some merit in what he says, and there is some merit in what you say.

The old so-called "International" unions are years behind and will never catch up. That does not mean, however, that the need for some sort collective organization by workers is not needed.

What is needed now are small, locally based, but truly internationally connected, associations, which do much more than bargain contracts and file grievances. They need to add value to the process, through a variety of means, including educating, informing, and empowering the workforce to become much more productive.

These associations will also need to be much more flexible and creative when dealing with that quickly disappearing line dividing labor and management. And they also must be leaders in moving the workforce from the combative antagonisms industrial age to the new world of a much more cooperative and flattened global economy.

I am sure they are dying to hear from me, and that my two cents is all they need to reverse their position.

Kind of like when I told Metallica that there wasn't any future in polka music and they changed to a new style....

Concerned about hotel worker exploitation (and inadvertently supporting it)

We recently stayed at an Iberostar resort in the Dominican Republic, and it was plainly visible that the hotel was in gross violation of the supposed great protections afforded by Dominican labor law. We would consistently see the same workers working when we went to breakfast in the morning (app. 9am), who were still at work when we made our way to bed at 10 or 11pm at night. Not only that, but we would see them again, day after day, working these consistently long days for the entirety of our vacation stay there. Many of them looked downright exhausted, and we ended up asking several of the workers what their weekly schedules were at the resort. We consistently heard that the standard employee schedule for a specific group of workers was 15 hour days for 11 days straight, then a 2 or 3 day break before another 11 15-hour day stint. We talked to another worker that was there on contract from Europe, who told us that because they were "not Dominican" they didn't have to work such a crazy schedule (but they worked pretty long hours as well nonetheless).

There were so many workers swarming around all over the place that I can't imagine any of them were being paid too well (I really couldn't make sense of how many staff were always on-hand considering the average/affordable price of vacation packages there), and to hear from multiple sources that 11 15-hour days is some sort of standard was a little apalling.

Were we to have done some research on labor conditions in the DR (and/or at this specific company) beforehand we would not have patronized this locale.

MrMike said:

I am sure they are dying to hear from me, and that my two cents is all they need to reverse their position.

Kind of like when I told Metallica that there wasn't any future in polka music and they changed to a new style....

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I'm still giggling from that one!!

It's just too easy to put our ideas of how a society should work onto our own ideas of how we would like it to work.
Please remember, that for many people, having a job and being able to count on a regular inflow of money,no matter how little, opens up another world.
The ability to feed and educate your kids, have a home, be proud to show off that you have a job and an income is a powerful feeling, and even as a Gringo I can still relate to it, even though I was running three jobs to make ends meet at the time.
I'm not an American, but I reckon the majority of the US citizens work harder and for less than any other nation I can think of. The IRS is the true Monarchy of the USA.

The people that claim worker rights on unions and such in the DR are trampled and violated never had the "pleasure" of being employers themselves here...

You have no idea of what dealing with employees and the labor protection afforded by the law to them are here!

The year end "liquidacion" is a God send to many of us in the DR. If it wasn't for that employees would own the companies they work for in less than 10 years of continuous labor sans the liquidations...

US Unions are child play compared to the Dominican Unions...

PICHARDO said:

The year end "liquidacion" is a God send to many of us in the DR. If it wasn't for that employees would own the companies they work for in less than 10 years of continuous labor sans the liquidations...

US Unions are child play compared to the Dominican Unions...

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What exactly is year end "liquidacion"??? You referring to the 13th paycheck? or ???

PICHARDO said:

The people that claim worker rights on unions and such in the DR are trampled and violated never had the "pleasure" of being employers themselves here...

You have no idea of what dealing with employees and the labor protection afforded by the law to them are here!

The year end "liquidacion" is a God send to many of us in the DR. If it wasn't for that employees would own the companies they work for in less than 10 years of continuous labor sans the liquidations...

US Unions are child play compared to the Dominican Unions...

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I'd like to have the pleasure to pay minimum wage continuosly and rake millions in profits while forcing my employees to work overtime every week without paying them. It'll be awesome!

DominicanBilly said:

Worked all my life for a non union company and it was the only steel mill in north America to never have a layoff or loose money. My father was a union steward and we had some great arguments over the merits of a union.

I also ran a small hotel here in Puerto Plata for 2-1/2 years and I'll vouch for the laws that are in place that protect your Dominican employees are stiff. Although I'm sure the same enforcement isn't used when you have a Dominican employer.

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If an employer was to follow the all the laws in place (I mean ALL the laws) he would be bankrupt within a few years.