Better Work Haiti has released its 18th Synthesis Report under Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) II Legislation, providing transparent information into the state of working conditions and labor standards in the garment industry today. The report draws upon data from factories that were assessed from April 2018 to March 2019, bringing together quantitative compliance findings with qualitative evidence from day-to-day advisory and training work in factories.
Regarding international labor standards, new non-compliance findings were only identified in the freedom of association and collective bargaining cluster, for this reporting period. There is a slight increase in the non-compliance rate for the compensation cluster in comparison to the previous cycle.
Better Work Haiti is exploring ways to reinforce and improve its collaboration with social security partners, MAST, ONA, and OFATMA in order to ensure that these issues are addressed in a more sustainable way. Although there is a slight decrease in the overall non-compliance rate for the occupational safety and health cluster, the non-compliance rates for this cluster remain high in the Haitian garment industry (average 72%). The highest levels on noncompliance in that cluster still relate to the emergency preparedness, health services & first aid, chemicals and hazardous substances and the worker protection and working environment compliance points.
Although Better work Haiti continues to offer training and advisory services to address these points over the years, the high turnover rate in most factories for OSH officers and OSH committee members seems to be one of the main challenges to implement sustainable OSH management systems in participating factories. Also, OSH policies are not always endorsed by senior management which another reason why regulations related to emergency preparedness are not properly enforced in the factories. Better Work Haiti promotes and encourages factories’ ownership for a more suitable managing of workplace environment issues. Information sharing and joint initiatives with social security bodies tend to influence their perspectives to improve workers accessibility to health services & first aid.
Download the report to find out more.