ECONOMY-HAITI: Gas Price Hike Triggers ‘Warning’ Strike

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ives Marie Chanel

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 8 2003 (IPS) - Political unrest directed against President Jean Bertrand Aristide has been overtaken by economic protests from employers’ groups and unions after the government cut its petroleum subsidies, which has nearly doubled the cost of living in just two weeks.

On Tuesday, vehicles providing mass transit disappeared from the country’s main arteries as the vast majority of trade unionists in transportation and assembly plants held a 24-hour warning strike demanding that the government lower prices on petroleum products.

The strike paralysed most of the country’s activities and prevented the reopening of schools after the Christmas break.

The entire country has been affected by the increase. Truck drivers are demanding that the price of fuel be lowered, workers are asking for an increase in the minimum wage in order to keep pace with costs, and the association of distributors of petroleum products (ANADIPP) is asking for an increase in profit margins.

The cost of living has practically doubled in less than two weeks. The government’s decision to increase the price of fuel on the eve of the new year resulted in a 150 percent increase in the price of transportation and a 100 percent hike in basic foodstuff prices.

”I’ve six kids and I earn 37 gourdes (0.92 U.S. dollars) per day. Every morning I spend 20 gourdes just on transportation alone. No one can live this way, with a minimum wage that has not budged for several years,” said one worker in a textile assembly plant in the capital.

Just weeks ago it looked as if growing political protests against President Jean Bertrand Aristide might bubble over into a civil emergency. Now, Haitians have switched their attention to rising prices.

Prices of petroleum products have jumped between 53 and 97 percent.

The first sign of the change was seen on Christmas day, when Haitian drivers were forced to wait in long lines at the gas pumps.

Petroleum company officials claimed that the rationing was due to a tanker that had been detained in port because of the political crisis in Venezuela, but well-informed sources contacted by IPS revealed that the government had failed to pay its petroleum bill.

Soon after, Secretary of State for Communication Mario Dupuy stated that the government would no longer be able to continue subsidising gasoline prices as it had since 1995. Subsidies during the past two months had led to a 500-million-gourde deficit, he added.

”The government is not trying to make a profit by raising gasoline prices,” Dupuy said. ”It’s instead attempting to protect its citizens. If we didn’t take these precautions, we would be facing a gas shortage within a month which would require a 300 to 400 percent rise.”

”The readjustment of prices is connected to a fall in the local currency in relation to the dollar and the rise in the price of oil on the local market,” he added.

Dupuy criticised petroleum distributors, saying that their profit margins have remained stable because they are calculated in U.S. dollars. The distributors have given the government until Jan. 14 to reach an agreement with them on increased profit margins. If no deal is made, it is feared the distributors may go on strike within weeks.

”We are the number one consumers of fuel. We use diesel to power our generators since the output of the national electric company is not very reliable,” said ANADIPP President Max Bayard.

”The prices of fuel are very high. We are demanding an increase in our profit margins because our operating costs, including our rents and securities, have also increased,” he added.

Truckers say they will strike again if the government does not relent.

”It’s a warning strike. We plan to undertake other actions if the government doesn’t back down on the price increases,” said one union leader.

”They increased the price of super unleaded more than 87 percent, and nearly 50 percent on the price of diesel. The government’s profits are estimated to be 39 percent of the price of super unleaded,” he added.

The entire political class and most of the country’s chambers of commerce are supporting the truckers’ strike.

”Aristide should show that austerity is really in order by doing away with his nine-million-dollar security detail, which serves no purpose but to guarantee his personal safety. There has been no change in the price structure at the international level which justifies such an increase,” said Himmler Rebu, a former army officer who has been involved in the campaign to unseat Aristide over the last few months.

”We’re aware of the increase in the cost of petroleum on the international market but the rise prescribed by the government is unjustified,” said Marc Georges, president of the Northern Chamber of Commerce and the Professions.