The People of Haiti Still Need Your Help and Solidarity

January 24 2010

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HaitiMorguesm
The massive earthquake which hit Haiti nearly two weeks ago has left up to 200,000 dead, tens of thousands of injured and sick, and 3 million people affected in other ways—out of Haiti’s population of 9 million people.

The American people along with the international community can help make sure that Haiti is not once again going to be forced into debt to deal with this disaster, or to accept conditions on aid that are not compatible with Haiti’s national sovereignty or the interests of the Haitian people. Rather, Haiti’s international debt should be cancelled entirely.

But the highest priority right now is to get as much direct help to the Haitian people as possible. A massive aid effort has been mounted. We encourage everyone to make an individual contribution, as well as getting your unions, community organizations, churches and other groups to pitch in. Every penny counts.

Money, equipment, medicine, supplies and skilled volunteers (doctors, nurses, search and rescue personnel etc) are all needed. There are many excellent charities that are providing urgent help on the ground in Haiti. We encourage you to give what you can to this important humanitarian effort. Here is a just a partial list of ways to help:

Organized labor has stepped to the plate, with a $500,000 donation from the United Auto Workers, and thousands of unionized nurses (from The National Nurse Union) volunteering to go to Haiti to help. Read about what labor is doing and get ideas on how to hook up with labor’s efforts.

You can make contributions by contacting the Haitian Embassy 271 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212.697.9767. Fax: 212.681.6991.
 
It is also easy to make a contribution through your cell phone without a credit card. $5 can be sent to via singer Wyclef Jean Yelé Haiti. Just text the word "YELE" to 501501.
A $5 donation will be charged to your cell phone bill.
 
For those who have family in Haiti, the number 1-888-407-4747 has been set-up by the U.S. government to help you reach your family in Haiti.
 
The crisis in Haiti will not be solved quickly. As emergency support winds down, we all must seek to keep the Haitian people in our thoughts and support them with our deeds. The Communist Party supports long-term efforts to help rebuild Haiti as an independent and thriving nation and to overcome the poverty and inequality that has plagued our Caribbean neighbor for generations.
 
For more on the history of Haiti, its people and their struggles, visit People's World for the latest news and analysis.
 
National Board
Communist Party, USA

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  • Tuesday, Jan 04, 2011

    To Mr. Jorge Perez Lopez,
    President of FLA (Fair Labor Association)

    Dear Perez, by the special present we write you as representatives of the Haitian victim workers from Cd Apparel S.A in the Sonapi, industrial park of the Port-au-Prince Bldg # 31. As you already know on May 04, 2007 the Leaders of Hanes brands INC with the complicity of the Haitian employers ended their contract with the Cd Apparel’s Plant without any warning throwing into jeopardy the livelihoods of 500 poor’s workers and their families join with the worst tragedy of the Haitian people caused by the Earthquake taken place on January 12 , 2010 that which get worse the economic and social situation of the workers. Note that the illegal closure of our plant violates the Haitian labor law requires an employer to give damages and full compensation to the victim workers because this injustice impede the international social legislation on work which demand you as defender of the human rights to fix your position so that a solution can be done. For the truth and the history, we’re paid to tell you Mr. Lopez that we keep for Hanes by the law 420.000 pieces of T-shirts without forgetting a lot of materials finishing goods at Sonapi Bldg #31 ( six containers ) we please you to let us know your position on this case and your staff one ??? Of more, you had informed the committee of Cd Apparel on a declaration from Hanes pretending that all the victim of this Plant got already obtained “Full Compensation” but without any proof on this lie! For the knowledge of Humanity, we want to declare that the workers did not receive any compensation and damages from an employer in Haiti explaining the critical situation of the victims after the brutal earthquake … To make light on this case we need have a copy of the payroll’s file (doc of payroll) showing how many employees who have been paid? When? The sum for each one of them? In what currency? Like this the truth should be at the main of the international public opinion and demand to the leaders of Hanes to compensate and repair the poor Haitian workers after 4 years of excellent services for their profit and the one of Cd Apparel’s employer but nothing for the victims: What injustice!!!

    We look forward to your response for an immediately resolution to this case.

    From the committee of Cd Apparel in Haiti at Sonapi Bldg # 31 !

    Posted by OUVRIERSVICTIMESCDAPPAREL/HANES!, 02/04/2011 11:41am (2 years ago)



  • Credentials:
    Russell Pelle rpelle1917@hotmail.com
    International Relations
    Unite d’ Actions Constructives des Syndicats Haitiens (UACSH) – Unity for Constructive Action by Haitian Unions
    I began working with Haitian refugees in 1992, following the 1991 military coup that overthrew President J. B. Aristide. My first trip to Haiti was in 1996, 2nd in 1997 by invitation - to attend founding congress of the left party OPL (Organization of People in Struggle), and have visited Haiti many times - from the border with the Dominican Republic to Tiburon. I have lived in Haiti summers since 2004. I speak Haitian Kreyol. I established relations between UACSH and the AFL-CIO in July 2006, arranging for the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center to fly in a representative to meet with UACSH and was designated as International Relations officer for UACSH at that time. I have appeared on television, radio and in newspapers in Haiti with UACSH several times and attended union conferences with UACSH and other unions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
    UACSH emerged in 2004 with a nation-wide general strike over gasoline and transportation issues. Its largest base is among drivers, with other unions/associations affiliated such as postal workers, technical workers, construction, domestic workers, tailors, roadside tire repairmen and others. UACSH President Retes Rejoir frequently meets with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss issues of concern to working people, development issues, transportation and infrastructure issues. Several years ago he persuaded Haitian President Preval to purchase 300 new buses. Immediately after the January 12, 2010 earthquake he joined a government commission to evacuate hundreds of thousands of survivors from the devastated Port-au-Prince area. He has visited the USA several times and met with union leaders in Boston and Florida.
    To donate to UACSH, for information, etc. Contact Russell Pelle, International Relations, UACSH at rpelle1917@hotmail.com


    Press Conference at the UACSH office in Bois Verna (Port-au-Prince) summer 2008: Russell Pelle and Retes Rejouir. UACSH ID badge. UACSH MANDATE: “… certifies that Russell Pelle is authorized to serve as International Intermediary. Russell Pelle is authorized to establish relations and communication with the international labor movement and facilitate transfer of donations to UACSH” (7-7-2006)

    N Fl CLC donation of $1000 made out to Russell Pelle the evening following the quake - 4 days before any surviving members of UACSH were heard from.








    Letter from CD Apparel Worker’s Committee, organization of former textile workers who made Hane’s T- shirts in the Free Trade Zone. These workers tried to organize and the company closed its doors.

    Russell Pelle with CD Apparel Worker’s Committee leaders Ernisia Michaud, Cesar Medna and James Moise in Port-au-Prince, August 2009



    With members of Haitian Union Coordination (CSH) at union conference at (now collapsed) Hotel Montana, Port-au-Prince. At right, former CSH coordinator Fritz Charles.



    Hotel Montana after earthquake



    Posted by Russell Pelle, 02/12/2010 11:13am (3 years ago)



  • 1-23-2010
    HAITIAN UNIONS APPEAL FOR HELP AFTER EARTHQUAKE
    Jacksonville Central Labor Council gives $1000
    Russell Pelle, Jacksonville, Florida
    Just 26 hours after the January 12 earthquake devastated Haiti, the North Florida Central Labor Council voted to send the Haitian labor federation Unity for Constructive Action by Haitian Unions (UACSH) $1000 as direct union-to-union solidarity. UACSH International Relations officer Russell Pelle emailed a request for help for the Haitian unionists to NF CLC President Russell Harper Tuesday evening within hours of the 7.1 earthquake. Brother Harper is a member of IBEW local 177. Harper signed a check at the end of the CLC meeting. Other union leaders present expressed their concern and desire for their locals to also aid our brothers and sisters in the impoverished nation.
    At the time of the CLC meeting it was not yet known if UACSH President Retes Rejouir had survived the quake.
    Some CLC members had met Brother Rejouir in 2008 when he visited Jacksonville to attend the A. Phillip Randolph Convention. A. P. Randolph, a legendary African-American labor leader, was born in Jacksonville. At the convention Rejouir met many unionists, including International Longshoreman’s Association leaders Charles Spence of Jacksonville and Kenneth Riley of ‘Charleston 5’ fame. The ILA workshop passed the hat and collected nearly $800 to support unions in Haiti. While in Jacksonville, Rejouir met with Florida State Senator Tony Hill, who came out of the ILA, and was interviewed by Brother Stan the Union Man for his call-in program on Jacksonville’s progressive talk radio 105.3 FM. UACSH President Rejouir also met with then Florida AFL-CIO President Cindy Hall in Tallahassee.
    The earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, January 12 at 5pm.
    I received an email Wednesday (13th) from Cathy Feingold, Program Director of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Santo Domingo, asking if I had heard from UACSH President Rejouir. They said they were sending in someone the next day to try to locate people.
    The first survivor I heard from (January 14) was my friend I had stayed with last summer, in Carrefour – adjacent to Port-au-Prince – in the epicenter zone. She called at 7pm, told me the house had collapsed but she had gotten out and was unhurt, but was – like everyone else – living in the street: no food, no water. She started screaming – an aftershock struck as we spoke.
    Friday night (15th) I received an email reply from Senator Edgar LeBlanc, leader the left party OPL (Organization of People in Struggle): “Thanks Comrade, big problems, but as I am alive, I will answer you that I’m OK.”
    Then at noon on Saturday (16th) I received a message from Brother Rejouir:
    Greetings dear friend: UACSH is in mourning after this disaster, I am taking a census of our victims and deaths. I am a victim but I am happily alive.
    Retes Rejouir
    Coordinator UACSH
    A week after the quake, January 19, I received a message from the CD Apparel Worker’s Committee, a group of workers who made Hane’s T-shirts in a textile mill in the Free Trade Zone. They tried to unionize several years ago and the company shut down the factory: “Yes, we have lot of problems here because many CD Apparel workers are victims, we need a lot of aid so we can help the victims.”
    I didn’t hear from Rejouir again until the 20th: “Excuse Me for not having answered right away because there is not electricity everywhere in the country, the Internet works haphazardly and I do not have an office. The building lodging the office in Carrefour is destroyed and that in Bois Verna is partly destroyed. I have not yet finished taking a census of the members of Unity for Constructive Action by Haitian Unions (UACSH), those who are victims and deaths. I lost 5 members of my family.”
    I received the next message from him on the 22nd, after I had wired money donated by U.S. unions: “I am alive; I am still serving the people. I am on a government commission to transport people to go to the countryside with the state-owned buses. My wife is ok. As for CSH (Haitian Union Coordination) President Carlo Napoleon, he is with me. Thank you for the first funds, but we will need a lot of money because almost all our homes are destroyed, our 2 offices collapsed. What we need is food and water. Please speak with the longshoremen’s union, Lionel and Tony Hill so they can help UACSH.”
    Everyone I have heard from (now 7 people) has lost their home and is living in the street. The house I built several years ago in the Arcachon area of Carrefour collapsed. Working class and informal Sector people in Haiti rarely have more than a day’s worth of clean water or rice in the house – if that much. So when the earthquake struck and homes collapsed most people soon – or immediately – were out of food and water. No one I have heard from has received any food, water or medical attention from international relief efforts.
    The Haitian government wants to move some 400,000 people out of Port-au-Prince to the countryside. As he indicated in his last message, UACSH President Rejouir is a member of the government commission responsible for this evacuation. The labor federation’s biggest base is drivers. The state-owned buses he refers to were purchased after Rejouir convinced Haitian President Rene Preval to purchase 300 new buses in 2008. Surviving UACSH drivers will play a big role in saving lives by evacuating survivors to the provinces. Aftershocks continue to plague the Port-au-Prince area and thousands of those alive today will perish from thirst, hunger, untreated injuries and disease. A systematic effort to reduce the Haitian capital’s overpopulation will save thousands of lives.
    Your donations – direct to the UACSH – can help save union members lives and help organized labor in Haiti work to save more lives.
    Persons wanting to send money to the union movement in Haiti can do so without losing a penny to administrative costs. I will wire donations directly to the UACSH in Haiti. For my credentials and instructions for sending money email me at rpelle1917@hotmail.com. Ask your union to help rescue the union movement in Haiti.
    Russell Pelle International Relations, Unity for Constructive Action by Haitian Unions (UACSH)




    Uniting the Haitian community in Jacksonville, Florida with African-American ministers to help aid Haiti. Above: Congresswoman Corrine Brown (center) with Haitian community leaders and Haitian pastors at a service for Haiti at Bethel Baptist Church, which is sending truckloads of water and other vital supplies to Haiti. Below: Roland Wasembeck and Jacques Guillaume of the Haitian-American Association for Advancement, UACSH International Relations officer Russell Pelle and Bishop Rudolph McKissick, Jr. of Bethel Baptist Church


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    Posted by Russell Pelle, 02/12/2010 11:04am (3 years ago)

  • Yoko Ono has a new album out called Istant Karma Save Darfur

    Posted by Dharma Rain, 02/09/2010 2:00pm (3 years ago)

  • hi, my name is maya asby and i am 10 years old. i want to help haiti more than anything because it kills me to hear of over 200,000 people dead, tens of thousands of sick and injured, 3 million people affected in other ways- out of haiti's population of 9 million people. i know what it feels like- losing people whom you love and care for. i wish that the people of haiti that are still left could read this- they probaly want and need to know the feeling that they are feeling now. i wish i could talk to them- tell them it's all right and that millions of people are going to help sponser them to bring they're city back to life.i want to buy everything they need- i took alist off this website and i am going to go to the bank [ i have over 180 dollars] and spend half the money i have on buying them the medicine they need- and the other half to just donate to haiti.i think that every one has a reason to live- even the people that are wicked.so why can't the people of haiti start over? haiti people may be black- but i'm not racest and i think no matter what color people's skin color is, they all have a good reason God made them and that is why they live.haiti is a country that needs help and as soon as i see a oppertunity to help someone or something, i grab it. and i want the people of haiti to know that.when i am in a situation that involves death, i wanna help the people who still are living but are struggiling to. that's why i think everyone in the world- no matter how old you are and where you're from or what type of person you are, i think everyone should help haiti. i'm too young to set up a website about helping haiti, but who says i can't dream or donate? i want to send everything i have to haiti, but then i would be in the same situation they are in now.world peace is something i've always dreamed of happening, but there's no way to help with that.this is a really long letter, i know, but i wanna make it clear that i am going to do everything i can to help haiti, even if it takes everything i have. SO LETS ALL HELP HAITI!

    Posted by maya asby, 02/06/2010 2:39pm (3 years ago)

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