Helping Haiti

This morning I listened to CBC’s The Current as the host interviewed Jean-Louis Warnholz on economic opportunities in Haiti.
He listed off mango exports, tourism and the garment industry as major economic benefits to the nation that were just starting to grow before the earthquake.
I waited for Anna Maria Tremonti to take Warnholz to task.
“Garment industry, who is he kidding,” I thought.
The opportunity passed her by as she asked about Mango production.
So I will fill in the blanks.
The so-called garment industry in Haiti produces the GAP shirts, Levi Jeans and a number of Disney products. It is low-pay, long hours and bad conditions, in short sweatshops in free-trade zones. They are set up to benefit the corporations that use them, not support a society in need of stability.
In 1996 workers in the FTZ made about 28 cents a day. Now, they might make up to $1 or $2 a day, but not likely.
The very reason Haiti is in so much trouble is because it has been abused a place for cheap labour and given unfair treatments from the West for decades.
That needs to change if we really want to support the country.
Let not use this earthquake as a time to ram through policy change in the very same ‘shock and awe’ way the US did in Iraq.
Throwing the doors open to more transnational corporations, paying significantly below a living wage is not going to help Haitians get back on their feet now, or if something occurs again in the future.