ITGLWF red at Dominican Govt denying clothing workers' rights

28 Nov '05

3 min read

The Global Union representing workers in the clothing industry has sharply criticised the Dominican government for denying workers the right to organise.

In a letter addressed to Secretary of State for Labour José Ramón Fadul, the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) condemned the government's refusal to grant legal recognition to the union of workers at Knitex Inc as well as its failure to protect the workers from dismissal for conducting legitimate trade union activities.

ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney says in his letter that the workers at the Knitex T-shirt factory in the Bonao Free Trade Zone formed a union in October, following all the steps set down in the Dominican Labour Code.

The Director General of Labour then rejected the union's request for legal recognition, claiming that some of the union's founding members had resigned from the organisation, thus meaning that the union no longer had the required number of founding members.

But the fact that some of the founding members may no longer be part of the union does not change the fact that at the time the assembly was held, it was carried out in accordance with legal requirements.

According to Mr. Kearney, worse was still to come. Even before communicating the decision to the union, the labour authorities notified the company that the request for registration had been denied.

Emboldened by the government's reaction, management responded by immediately firing seventeen founding members, and called in the police in order to force them to leave the premises.

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