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On May 7, National
Secretary-Treasurer Claude
Généreux concluded a sevenday
mission to support our
Haitian counterparts with the
Confederation of Public and
Private Sector Workers (CTSP).
He shares his observations
on the situation in Port-au-
Prince after the earthquake of
January 12, 2010 and the trade
union solidarity on the ground.
SG: What is life like in Portau-
Prince almost four months
after the earthquake?
CG: Life is very, very
difficult. There is a lack of
public services, which is a
principle concern for CUPE.
Here is a revealing example:
the Champ-de-Mars is located
directly in front of the ruins of
the presidential palace and
there, just like on much of the
flat-lying terrain in the city, one
observes an atrocious scene.
There is an immense camp that
is completely disorganized and
anarchic. It is said that a picture
is worth a thousand words, but
in this case, no picture can fully
capture the calamity.
Fortunately, I also noticed
electricity-sector unions in
the process of building a
community. Of course, these
were only temporary shelters,
but they formed a wellorganized
little settlement of
700 to 800 persons. They set
up community kitchens and a
system for washing clothes; it’s
a start… a budding social order.
This is why CUPE went there,
along with many other unions
from all over the Americas:
in our own humble way, we
all wanted to support Haitian unions.
SG: What circumstances do
Haitian unions currently face?
CG: I could see that union
work, right there and then,
was quite unique – and hard to
understand from a Canadian
perspective. It was not like the
work we usually perform at the
local level, which is, defending
and negotiating working
conditions. Instead, it involved
trying to meet the basic needs
of a society in which, due to
the earthquake, 90,000 jobs
have disappeared overnight.
Thus, 90,000 members who
had held good jobs were now
without work, most of them had
no accommodation, and their
children had no school.
SG: How will CUPE continue
to support its counterparts?
CG: We would like to
support Haitian unions directly,
on the ground, to generate local
Haitian solutions taking into
account the input provided by
workers themselves. In this way,
they will be able to develop a
just and equitable society with
high-quality public services.
Concretely, with the support
of our global justice program
and local unions, we intend to
make available highly skilled
CUPE members who, over the
course of several months, will
support Haitian unions on the
ground. While maintaining
contact with Canada, these
experts will help the CTSP
equip themselves with new
offices, become functional again
as an organization and amply
provide its members with the
assistance they need: food,
housing, medical clinics and so
on. Stay tuned!
Watch the video (French only):