Surging oil prices spark protest in Haiti as workers demand salary increases
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — More than 1,000 workers organized a protest Monday in Haiti’s capital to demand a higher minimum wage as the conflict in Iran deepens, driving up oil prices.
Workers at the state-owned Metropolitan Industrial Park, informally known as Sonapi, gathered outside its gates in Port-au-Prince and shouted, “When we are hungry, we don’t mess around!”
Employees noted that they haven’t had a raise since 2023, and that they can no longer afford basic goods given that Haiti’s government increased diesel prices by 37% and gasoline prices by 29% earlier this month.
“A gallon of gas is higher than our minimum salary,” said Marc Jean Jean-Pierre, a 47-year-old father of two children.
He works at a factory making jeans, earning 685 Haitian gourdes ($5.23) a day, while a gallon of gasoline costs 850 gourdes ($6.49).
“You can see what we’re going through,” he said.
Jean-Pierre used to take public transportation to get to work, but now he walks for an hour to save money since the round-trip fare has increased by 100 gourdes (76 cents).
“We will be in the street until the government hears our voice,” he said.
Joining Monday’s protest was Maxime Excellence, a 49-year-old factory janitor, who worried about rising transportation prices, among other things.
“On top of it, I have to eat. I can’t spent the whole day not eating,” he said. “God knows what I’m going to have to eat when I get home.”
Excellence said the workers’ demands are fair.
“We can barely make ends meet with what we’re living on," he said.
He said that he would continue to protest until their demands are met and would resort to violence if necessary.
James Cardichon, a 37-year-old factor worker who makes T-shirts, echoed those sentiments.
“We need a revolution for them to understand,” he said, adding that the factory conditions also need to improve. “We are leaving our sweat behind.”
He said that workers are seeking a better salary so their children don’t have to experience the same problems.
“We are tired,” he said. “Our country is infested by gangs. The bus charges more because they have to pay the gangs to get through, and we end up paying for everything.”
Cardichon also said he was upset about the ongoing promises by government officials to improve the country’s situation.
“We are tired of promises,” he said. “We want them to take action, and quickly.”
Some Haitians who joined the protest don’t work at the industrial park but wanted to express their frustration at Haiti’s spiraling crises, with gang violence surging and poverty deepening.
Garry Jean Paul, 35, who sells cellphones on the street, said that rising oil prices are worsening the country’s situation.
“Some days I make a couple hundred of gourdes, some days I have to go home with nothing,” he said. “Families are doing things they are not supposed to be doing. They are begging.”
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