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TUC Aid promotes organising, collective bargaining and social protection and dialogue in Haiti.

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Research and reports
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TUC Aid is supporting an initiative by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Confederation for the Americas (TUCA) to strengthen the trade union structures, institutions and networks in Haiti. At their meeting in February 2013, the TUC Aid Trustees agreed to a grant of £90,000 out of the proceeds of the TUC Aid Haiti Appeal towards the implementation of the Project.

The ITUC-TUCA Project being implemented in partnership with the Haitian trade union movement will contribute to the promotion of social justice, democracy and decent work and improve working conditions for workers in both the formal and informal sectors in Haiti and is in line with the Trade Union Roadmap adopted at the Trade Union Summit held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in April 2010.

The contribution from TUC Aid will make it possible to carry out a series of activities aimed at

Training union organisers;

Organising workers in the key sectors;

Building capacity in the Haitian trade union movement to participate effectively in the revision of the Labour Code in Haiti; and,

Promoting the development of joint strategies and common action by Haitian unions to protect and promote workers rights and entitlements through collective bargaining.

The training of union organisers will be a key component of the programme supported by TUC Aid and contribute to the success of the recruitment drive targeted on young people and women in the formal and informal sectors. The union membership estimated at some 100,000 representing roughly 3% of the labour force is expected to rise by about 40,000 by the end of all project activities. The recruitment campaign will focus on workers' rights and entitlements, their protection, promotion and enforcement through collective bargaining and on the need for an increase in the minimum wage, access to social protection and effective defence of workers in cases of rights violations.

The upgrading of knowledge, expertise and skills of union officials will stand the Haitian trade union movement in good stead when participating in the revision of the Labour Code and enhance their impact on the process. The Project activities are expected to bring together Haitian unions, cement their relations, improve their joint collaborative endeavours to defend workers' rights and facilitate the consolidation of democracy in Haiti.

TUC Aid was one of the first trade union organisations to join the solidarity campaign spearheaded by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in collaboration with its regional arm -Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) to raise funds for humanitarian relief and rehabilitation of the people affected by the devastating earthquake in January 2010. TUC Aid made a contribution of £30,000 in 2010 towards the cost of emergency aid provided by the international trade union movement in collaboration with the Confédération des Travailleurs Haitiens (CTH) assisted by the three ITUC affiliates in the Dominican Republic - Confederación Autónoma Sindical Clasista (CASC), Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores Dominicanos (CNTD) and Confederación Nacional de Unidad Sindical (CNUS). It also took part in the Trade Union Summit held in Santo Domingo in April 2010 in which a trade union roadmap was developed and agreed upon.

Preparing meals for earthquake victims sheltered in the trade union training centre - Jan 2010


Photo: ITUC

The Roadmap emphasizes the need for the decent work agenda to be at the heart of the reconstruction and development of Haiti while focusing on the efficient delivery of quality public services, notably, health, education, housing and water, the rights of women and youth and on trade union participation in all institutions and structures related to the national reconstruction effort. The Roadmap has three key strands:

  • development of a national employment policy based on decent work aiming at fulfilment of its four strategic objectives;
  • respect for decent work in the reconstruction phase including the establishment of a decent work observatory and the adoption of special measures for the creation of jobs for women; and
  • free, compulsory, good quality public education and training for all.
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