The Minister of Labor, Milton Ray Guevara, announced that the Dominican Republic and Haiti are on the verge of concluding an agreement that would ?normalize? the employment of Haitian cane-cutters and other agricultural workers. Together with his Haitian counterpart, the Minister has worked out the general outline of a treaty to be ratified by each country?s foreign ministry in the near future. Most cane cutting, and much farm labor is performed by Haitians who are contracted en masse by employment brokers, who obtain temporary residence visas for them. However, the task of sorting out transient labor from permanent Haitian residents and illegal aliens has become extremely difficult. The new measures are intended to provide for easier initial entry and better tracking of seasonal employees.
