Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/dominicr.txu

Text File | 1996-01-04 | 6KB | 127 lines

TITLE:  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995




The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor.  During previous
years, the Government and the CEA forcibly recruited Haitian
seasonal agricultural workers and then restricted them to
specific sugar plantations.  The CEA denied the use of paid
recruiters inside Haiti to obtain workers, and there is no
conclusive evidence that either practice occurred to any
significant degree in 1994.  There are no firm statistics on
the number of cane cutters on CEA plantations; most estimates
place the number at around 30,000.  The CDH reported an
instance where recruiters contracted approximately 500 Haitians
under false pretenses to work at the Rio Haina Sugar Mill.  As
this year's harvest in the southern half of the country began,
the Ministry of Labor estimated that the percentage of migrant
workers would drop to between 20 and 30 percent of the workers.

Haitian sugar cane workers continued to encounter restrictions
on their freedom of movement, but there were fewer reported
instances than in the past.  They included the presence of
armed guards in and around various sugar plantations and the
sequestering of workers' belongings in order to discourage
their movement to other CEA plantations or other types of
employment.  The government program to document temporary
workers begun in 1992 has been extended to approximately 50
percent of all itinerant Haitian workers.  Haitians' right to
work is thus documented, but a contractual obligation is also
imposed for workers to remain in a specific area for the
duration of the work contract.  Many Haitians do not understand
the contractual process, and work conditions tantamount to
indentured servitude prevail.  The CEA and the Dominican Office
of Immigration initiated a program in late 1991 to issue 1-year
temporary work permits to the workers.  According to a 1993
survey by an independent polling firm, 50 percent of all
itinerant Haitian workers possessed permits.  There are no
figures available on the number of forcibly repatriated Haitian
cane and coffee workers, but the authorities continued to force
repatriations at will, depending upon the demand for labor.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The Labor Code prohibits employment of youth under 14 years of
age and places various restrictions on the employment of youth
under age 16.  These restrictions include a limitation of no
more than 6 hours of daily work, no employment in dangerous
occupations or jobs involving the provision of intoxicating
beverages, and limitations on nighttime work.

In practice, children remain at risk of exploitation since the
Government does not enforce many of the child labor
restrictions.  During the past few years, the Labor Secretariat
made some effort to enforce the law in cases where companies
employed underage workers, but penalties were largely limited
to small fines.  Some young workers obtained work permits and
continued their employment; employers dismissed those unable to
obtain permits.  Numerous minors perform unregulated work as
itinerant vendors shining shoes, selling newspapers, and
cleaning cars.

The CEA and the Labor Secretariat took steps to discourage
child labor in CEA sugar plantations, and it occurred in only
isolated instances, most involving children accompanying their
fathers into the fields.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The Constitution gives the Government legal authority to set
minimum wage levels, and the Labor Code assigns this task to a
national salary committee.  Congress may also enact minimum
wage legislation.  Minimum wage raises have not compensated for
the loss of purchasing power, and scheduled wage increases in
1994 only provided partial relief.  Most workers receive only
the minimum wage, which averages around $90 per month (xxx
pesos) depending on the sector and employer size.  The minimum
wage represents only 20 percent of the estimated monthly cost
of living for an average-size family in Santo Domingo.  As a
result, many people hold more than one job.

The Labor Code establishes a standard work period of 8 hours
per day and 44 hours per week.  The Code also stipulates that
all workers are entitled to 36 hours of uninterrupted rest each
week.  The Code grants workers a 35 percent wage differential
for work over 44 and up to 68 hours per week and a 100 percent
differential for any hours above 68 hours per week.

Workplace safety and health conditions frequently do not meet
legal standards, which the Dominican Social Security Institute
(IDSS) and the Labor Code establish.  Both the IDSS and the
Labor Secretariat have small corps of inspectors charged with
enforcing standards.  However, these posts are customarily
filled through political patronage, and some inspectors have
earned a reputation for corruption.  In practice, workers
cannot remove themselves from workplace situations without
jeopardy to continued employment.

Conditions for agricultural workers, particularly Haitians, are
in general much worse, especially in the sugar industry.
Although the CEA readily cooperates with nongovernmental
organizations active in efforts to improve the conditions of
sugar cane workers, in some cases the CEA and the Government
have failed to take measures to implement written agreements
designed to overcome the problems facing sugar cane workers.
Cane cutters on CEA plantations are paid by weight of cut cane
rather than hours worked and thus they must work significantly
more hours than the standard workweek in order to earn a wage
approaching that of workers in other industries.  The CEA
continued to violate the Labor Code's prohibition of payment in
noncash forms by paying field workers in vouchers.  Cane
cutters also faced widespread cheating during the weighing of
their cut cane.  Although the CEA and the Labor Secretariat
signed an agreement with labor unions to allow union officials
to assist the Labor Secretariat in the inspection and
monitoring of CEA weigh stations, they took no action to
implement this agreement.  Many worker villages which are
predominantly inhabited by Haitians continue to suffer high
rates of disease and a lack of education and medical
facilities, running water, and sewage systems.