Establishing and delivering quality public services in Haiti must be made a top priority in the rebuilding of this country, says Public Services International. PSI is a global union federation representing over 20 million working people, including members in Haiti and the region.
“Quality public services form the foundation for a just society and sustainable economy,” emphasizes PSI general secretary Peter Waldorff.
“We call on the world community, leaders and citizens, to join us in working to ensure that unfettered market and development opportunism does not further widen the gaps of inequity in Haiti from this point forward.
“This is an important opportunity to support Haitian people in strengthening democratic control of their government,” Waldorff notes. “We will be taking this message to world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week: working people in Haiti must be included and lead from the start in the rebuilding of their country.
“Haitian citizens deserve decent wages, work and living conditions. They and their families need public water and sanitation, health and education services. They must be assured that this society will respect and protect the rights and value of unionized workers. We support our members in both the public and private sectors in achieving these aims.
“Further, we believe that grants – not loans that will further impoverish Haiti – are required to rebuild the public services and public infrastructure that will serve the Haitian people in a non-exploitive recovery. We support international demands that Haiti’s debt be cancelled entirely, and that tariffs on Haitian products also be lifted.”
Waldorff points out that much of the devastation caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti is directly related to the lack of publicly-supported or supervised building standards. The loss in human lives has been tragically and unnecessarily compounded by the absence of strong public health and emergency response services.
PSI’s affiliate in Haiti is the Confédération des Travailleurs et Travailleuses des Secteurs Public et Privé (Confederation of Public and Private Sector Workers) representing over 6,500 members.
PSI is in contact with Dukens Raphael, secretary general of CTSP, who reports that the union’s office is destroyed, and losses among members and their families continue to be counted. PSI has contributed 10,000 € to Médecins du Monde for emergency medical relief, and is working with Dukens and our affiliates in the region to arrange ongoing direct aid to CTSP and its members.
PSI is requesting financial contributions for both humanitarian and direct aid for PSI affiliate members in Haiti be sent to the PSI Aid Fund:
Account No. 298 630 31 06 90-0
or IBAN CH72 0844 0298 6303 1069 0
Banque Coop
CP 3828
CH-1211 Geneva 3, Switzerland
Swift code: COOPCHBB
Important: Please make sure there is a reference to "PSI Aid fund" in the text of all bank transfers. Please also inform PSI at psiaidfund@world-psi.org when making a transfer. Further enquiries can be addressed to Marie-Odile Reymond Tel +33 (0)4 5040 6464 or email marie-odile.reymond@world-psi.org
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