Jose Torres, executive director of the Dominican Free Zone Association, is advocating the modifying of the Labor Code to allow workers 12-hour/4 day work weeks, instead of the usual 8 hour/5 days +4 hour/Saturday work week. At present, the labor code only allows up to eight-hour work shifts without having to pay overtime. Adozona says that free zone operators feel this will allow better use of the free zone plants and the extra day for worker training programs. In the Central American and Caribbean region, wages in the DR are only lower than those in Costa Rica. Torres spoke on the Diplomacia, Politica y Comercio TV program. In an interview with Hoy newspaper, Torres and Adozona board member Arturo Peguero said this would better position the DR to compete for the increase in business headed to Central American and Caribbean free zones now that the US government has passed the provision that grants the region textile manufacture exports parity with US imports from Mexico that benefits from the North American Free Trade Agreement. The DR under the new Trade and Development Act can export apparel manufactured in the DR with US materials free of quotas and duties. The Adozona spokespeople said that while the law is not effective until 1 October of this year, there already has been an increase in new contracts and investments. He said in its first year, the DR should see a 25% increase in contracts, which will translate into 30,000 new jobs. They expect a significant increase in jean production in the DR. The country will also benefit from the provision that allows the jeans to be washed and materials cut in the DR, while keeping the tax-free benefits. Adozona also wants Congress to pass the Social Security Bill, which would eliminate the need for free zone companies to pay social security and private medical plans at the same time. Free zone industries grew 5% in 1999, reaching exports of US$4,100 million. But textile industries stagnated, reflecting primarily the better terms of trade Mexico enjoyed under Nafta. The DR also suffered from the financial crisis in Asia that made it cheaper for US companies to produce in the Far East. In the DR there are about 45 industrial free zone parks, with about 500 companies, of which about 300 are textile industries. Approximately 200,000 Dominicans are employed in the free zone industries, of which 140,000 are employed by apparel manufacturers.
