Grupo M will be relocating its apparel production operations from Juana Mendez due to security concerns and the continual threats against employees. According to the Diario Libre, the company will pack up its belongings and move elsewhere so as to be able to fulfill contracted work on time. The violence caused by a group that calls itself Batay Ouvriye (Workers? Battle) has made threats against the lives of workers in the industrial park called Codevi that was created by Grupo M, the largest private employer in the Dominican Republic. Last Monday saw a scene of protests staged by workers and members of Batay Ouvriye over working conditions and salaries. Work resumed later that day and continued yesterday, however, after meetings with the Haitian Consul in Dajabon, company executives and workers. Yesterday the Solidarity Foundation, headed by Jesuit Father Regino Martinez, asked for better treatment for the employees. As a result, Grupo M announced the ?relocation? of its production in order not to miss the delivery dates of its clients. The start-up in Juana Mendez cost the company around US$10 million, but created 1,000 jobs for one of the more depressed areas along the Haitian border. Every month, over US$1 million is pumped into the local economy through salaries generated at the installation. Because of the pressure tactics of Batay Ouvriye, who aim to intimidate the workers into joining a union, the company, in a statement signed Grupo M?s president Fernando Capellan, says ?the situation leads to the unavoidable loss of hundreds of jobs of people who have demonstrated their dedication and appreciation of work.?
Grupo M opened the Juana Mendez plant to take advantage of lower wages paid to the Haitian workforce in order to manufacture apparel that requires low skills. The Haitian operation also allowed the company to have access to Haitian export quotas.