VZCZCXYZ0037
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0971/01 1141718
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241718Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8059
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 4571
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000971 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOL FOR JANE RICHARDS; DEPT PASS USAID/LAC/RSD FOR DAVID 
JESSEE; DEPT AND WHITE HOUSE PASS USTR LABOR FOR AARON 
ROSENBERG; 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC:MIKE PUCCETTI; DEPT FOR 
DRL/IL:GABRIELLA RIGG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ELAB PHUM DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: LABOR TRADE CAPACITY BUILDING 
PROJECTS FOR FY2007 CAFTA-DR 
 
REF: A. STATE 37718 
 
     ¶B. SANTO DOMINGO 0964 
 
¶1. (SBU) Per Ref A, this cable contains Embassy's proposals 
for regional and bilateral trade-related labor projects to be 
funded with FY2007 trade capacity funds under the CAFTA-DR 
free trade agreement.  These proposals are in line with the 
priorities identified within the White Paper. The breakdown 
in requested funding is as follows: 
 
Expanding the Reach of the Inspectorate: USD 200,000 to 
300,000 
Strengthening Civil Society's Advocacy for Migrant Workers: 
USD 400,000 to 1,000,000 
Assessment on Improving the Administration of Labor Justice: 
USD 75,000 to 150,000 
 
The environment proposals were submitted in a separate cable 
(Ref B). 
 
¶2. (SBU) Each of Embassy's three labor proposals is listed 
below. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
TITLE:  Expanding the Reach of the Inspectorate 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
WHITE PAPER PRIORITY AREA:  Labor Ministry 
 
A) OBJECTIVE/ELEMENT/SUB-ELEMENT AND FUNDING: 
¶6. Private Sector Competitiveness 
6.1 Business Enabling Environment 
6.1.2 Business and organizations 
 
USD 200,000 to 300,000 of FY07 funds is requested for this 
activity. 
 
B) DESCRIPTION AND OUTCOMES: 
This activity strengthens the capacity of the Dominican 
Ministry of Labor to apply and enforce Dominican labor law in 
rural, agricultural communities through the provision of 
training and logistical assistance to the Ministry's 
inspectorate division. 
 
As in many countries, agricultural laborers in the Dominican 
Republic generally experience the most systematic and 
egregious labor code violations. The sense of isolation and 
independence from central authorities, reinforced by the 
failure of labor inspectors to visit rural areas, facilitates 
a culture of disregard for labor rights among some employers 
and makes laborers less likely to seek relief in the event of 
violations. These laborers often work in sectors of Dominican 
agriculture that derive significant revenue from exports to 
the United States, such as the production of sugar, fruit, 
vegetables, or tobacco.  Others are employed in "sensitive" 
agricultural sectors protected by CAFTA-DR tariff rate quotas 
to be phased out over a lengthy period. 
 
The Inspectorate division of the Dominican Ministry of Labor 
is responsible for verifying compliance with Dominican labor 
law throughout the country.  The Ministry has 38 offices 
located throughout the country and employs more than 200 
labor inspectors.  Labor inspectors, particularly those in 
Ministry's central office, tend to be regarded as capable and 
impartial, though inspectors in some isolated, rural offices 
have been accused of incompetence and pro-employer bias. Many 
labor unions and businesses report that mediation overseen by 
personnel from the Ministry's inspectorate division is the 
most effective means of resolving labor disputes. 
 
The Ministry's inspectorate division has only two trucks 
available for use throughout the country for inspections; 
both are generally committed for free-trade zone (FTZ) 
inspections and managerial use, which greatly complicates the 
ability of inspectors to investigate complaints in rural 
areas. As a result, last year fewer than 4 percent of the 
inspections carried out by the Ministry related to the 
agricultural sector. 
 
The Dominican sugar industry has a reputation of perpetuating 
some of the worst labor violations; however, migrant worker 
communities on sugar plantations are notoriously difficult to 
reach.  During the Ministry's last inspection to one such 
 
community last summer, the inspectors' truck became stuck in 
the mud, and was not able to be towed out until the next day. 
 
USAID has expressed concern that, generally, vehicles 
purchased for the host government with USG funds may not be 
used as intended. However, in the specific area of labor 
inspection, the Embassy has clearly identified a special need 
for transportation to isolated rural areas. In reflection of 
the concern regarding possible misuse of vehicles, this 
proposal envisions the purchase of only two vehicles for the 
Ministry. If this purchase results in a quantifiable increase 
in the number of agricultural inspections conducted by the 
Ministry within one to two years, as it is intended to do, 
the USG could consider purchasing additional vehicles at a 
later date. 
 
Expected Results: 
-- Improved capacity in the Ministry of Labor's Inspectorate 
to enforce labor law in the agricultural sector. 
-- Greater confidence and willingness among agricultural 
laborers to demand that their labor rights be respected. 
 
Specific Activities: 
¶1. Provide training in labor law and mediation to inspectors 
in rural provinces.  With effective training, inspectors in 
rural communities will be able to provide the same level of 
quality in monitoring and mediation services that their 
colleagues in the major metropolitan areas provide today. 
 
¶2. Purchase two (2) 4-wheel-drive vehicles for the 
Secretariat of Labor's Inspectorate division.  With 
 
SIPDIS 
4-wheel-drive vehicles, inspectors will for the first time be 
able to access the rural communities where some of the most 
egregious labor violations occur. 
 
Illustrative indicators 
-- Number of labor inspections conducted in the agricultural 
sector. 
-- Number of cases mediated by inspectors in agricultural 
provinces. 
-- Number of complaints submitted to the Ministry of Labor by 
agricultural laborers. 
-- Number of staff trained, and the number of offices they 
represent. 
 
Relationship to FY2005 - FY2006 CAFTA-DR Funding 
Previous year's funding has been provided to USDOL/ILO for a 
broad range of institutional strengthening and training 
activities in the labor ministries, and USAID and USDOL/ILO 
funds are being used for labor law training, with the former 
developing jurisprudence information systems for the courts. 
USAID is prior years' funding to strengthen information 
communication technology capacity at the labor ministries. 
To Embassy's knowledge, none of these activities has 
specifically involved the purchase of vehicles for labor 
inspectors. 
 
C)  PIPELINE/MORTGAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM: 
ILO-ILAB Technical cooperation implemented by the 
DOL-supported "Cumple y Gana" contractor with a 
project-duration of October 2003 - October 2008 has provided 
Ministry of Labor personnel with effective training and 
support.  They have worked to ensure the placement of at 
least one computer in each of the Ministry's 38 country-wide 
offices, but due to project limitations were forced to 
provide the bulk of their training to Ministry personnel 
stationed in and near the capital of Santo Domingo. A simple 
amendment to the contract could expedite the provision of 
vehicles and training to labor inspectors in rural provinces, 
as proposed here. 
 
D)  LINKAGE TO THE WHITE PAPER AND TRADE: 
Strengthening the Ministry of Labor's Inspectorate division 
would support the Labor Ministry's priority area in the White 
Paper, including its recommendations to "continue to expand 
the capacity of the regional offices," "provide the 
inspectorate offices sufficient vehicles (() to effectively 
expand their coverage nationwide," and "make permanent the 
targeted inspection and compliance initiative in the sugar 
sector launched in January 2005." 
 
E)  LOCAL BUY-IN: 
 
The Ministry of Labor's inspectorate division and "Cumple y 
Gana" country facilitator have identified the lack of 
vehicles and training for regional inspectors as the primary 
challenge faced by that organization.  Recommendations 
closely mirroring the activities proposed within this project 
were explicitly included in the White Paper. 
 
F)  STATUS OF PROGRESS TO DATE: 
n/a 
 
G) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: 
The Embassy will provide active public diplomacy support to 
all CAFTA-DR capacity-building assistance. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- 
TITLE:  Strengthening Civil Society's Advocacy for Migrant 
Workers 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 - 
WHITE PAPER PRIORITY AREA:  Promoting a Culture of Compliance 
 
A)  OBJECTIVE/ELEMENT/SUB-ELEMENT AND FUNDING: 
¶6. Private Sector Competitiveness 
6.1 Business Enabling Environment 
6.1.2 Business and organizations 
 
USD 400,000 to 1,000,000 of FY07 funds is requested for this 
activity. 
 
B)  DESCRIPTION AND OUTCOMES: 
The purpose of this activity is to support the development 
and strengthening of organizations willing to educate migrant 
workers on their labor rights and advocate on their behalf in 
labor disputes. 
 
The "Haitian-ization" of Dominican agriculture is a 
phenomenon that has accelerated over the last twenty years. 
Until the late 1970s, the Dominican sugar industry was the 
only economic sector that heavily relied on Haitian labor. 
Since then significant downsizing in the sugar industry and 
continuing instability in Haiti have driven workers of 
Haitian descent to seek work in other sectors of the 
Dominican economy.  Today they account for the majority of 
laborers in the construction industry and in virtually every 
area of the agricultural sector; the Dominican Board of Agro 
Businesses (JAD) has estimated their participation in 
Dominican agriculture as comprising approximately 90 percent 
of the work force. 
 
These workers and their Dominican-born descendents, who tend 
to be undocumented, lack access to the formal labor sector 
and are constantly at risk of being "repatriated" to Haiti. 
These characteristics make them far more vulnerable to labor 
violations.  A study conducted by the Jesuit Refugee Service 
(JRS) in the agricultural provinces of Mao and Montecristi 
documented serious and widespread labor violations in 
virtually every community they visited. 
 
Although undocumented workers are entitled to the same 
protections under the Dominican labor code as Dominican 
nationals, human rights NGOs like JRS and the 
Dominican-Haitian Cultural Center report that workers are 
unaware of their legal rights and that Dominican labor unions 
are unwilling to recruit as members workers of Haitian 
descent.  Those organizations collaborate in an informal 
network comprised of NGOs pursuing legal cases, including 
labor disputes, on behalf of persons of Haitian descent. They 
have achieved a few notable successes, but as organizations 
with limited resources and broader mandates their involvement 
in agricultural labor advocacy is very limited. 
 
Expected Results: 
-- Increasing awareness among migrant workers of their labor 
rights, and a greater willingness to stand up for them in the 
event of violations. 
-- Better application of labor law provisions in agricultural 
provinces. 
 
Specific Activities: 
¶1.  Provide union mobilization training to key civil society 
organizations that already advocate on behalf of persons of 
 
Haitian descent.  Such training could start immediately, 
since these organizations already exist.  It would enable 
facilitators to travel to pre-selected migrant worker 
communities and educate workers on their right to form new 
unions or join existing ones. Facilitators could also work 
with rural employers to help them understand their 
responsibilities under the Labor Code. 
 
¶2.  Support efforts among new and existing unions to promote 
dialogue with Haitian advocates and diversify their reach 
into agricultural provinces.  Existing unions could benefit 
from efforts to promote dialogue with civil society 
organizations that advocate on behalf of persons of Haitian 
descent.  If necessary, new unions could be assisted with 
start-up costs.  Unions may also need assistance with initial 
travel or other logistical costs. 
 
Illustrative Indicators: 
-- Number of unions that actively recruit migrant workers. 
-- Number of cases raised by unions on behalf of migrant 
workers of Haitian descent. 
-- Proportion of migrant workforce that becomes unionized. 
 
Relationship to FY2005 - FY2006 CAFTA-DR Funding 
Requests for regional proposals on protecting migrant workers 
have been solicited; however, given the unique problems faced 
by the migrant worker community in the Dominican Republic, 
Embassy is unaware of any existing proposals that would 
accomplish the objectives outlined above. 
 
C)  PIPELINE/MORTGAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM: 
This is a new program. 
 
D)  LINKAGE TO THE WHITE PAPER AND TRADE: 
Strengthening the efforts of civil society on behalf of 
migrant workers would support the Promoting a Culture of 
Compliance priority area in the White Paper, including its 
recommendation to "establish training initiatives for labor 
rights," key among which are the right of workers to organize 
and the right of unions to recruit undocumented migrant 
workers. 
 
E)  LOCAL BUY-IN: 
The informal network of organizations that advocate on behalf 
of workers of Haitian descent has shown remarkable interest 
in efforts to promote worker rights for migrant workers under 
the rubric of DR-CAFTA.  Officials at the Ministry of Labor 
have commented on the need for enhanced training on worker 
rights targeting migrant workers in the agricultural sector. 
On the other hand, there are vigorous anti-Haitian forces in 
Dominican society, and this program is liekly to provoke 
strong criticism from them. 
 
F)  STATUS OF PROGRESS TO DATE: 
n/a 
 
G) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: 
The Embassy will provide active public diplomacy support to 
all CAFTA-DR capacity-building assistance. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - 
TITLE:  Assessment on Improving the Administration of Labor 
Justice 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - 
WHITE PAPER PRIORITY AREA:  Labor Courts 
 
A)  OBJECTIVE/ELEMENT/SUB-ELEMENT AND FUNDING: 
¶6. Private Sector Competitiveness 
6.1 Business Enabling Environment 
6.1.4 Competitiveness 
 
USD 75,000 to 150,000 of FY07 funds is requested for this 
activity. 
 
This activity will support an assessment involving civil 
society and government groups to consider the problems with 
Dominican labor courts and to propose specific steps that 
could be taken to improve them. 
 
In the administration of labor justice, the Dominican labor 
 
courts are generally perceived as slow, inefficient, and 
non-transparent.  As in other sectors of Dominican law, undue 
influence can be a problem.  These criticisms were cited in 
the Department's 2006 Human Rights Report and have been 
documented by other observers.  A study of case load in labor 
jurisdictions from 2000 documented that the majority of cases 
are claims of wrongful separation from employment (86 
percent), followed by salary issues (8 percent). The average 
case resolution time was 15.3 months in courts of first 
instance, 16.4 months in appeals court.  Major causes of 
delay in case resolution is in the trial phase (average 8.6 
months between final case presentation and emission of the 
sentence) and initial case preparation (average 6.3 months). 
Only 4.5 percent of cases were conciliated once reaching the 
court system (others may have been conciliated at the level 
of the Labor Ministry, but no statistics are available to 
document the volume), with 83 percent resolved by judicial 
decision.  The study reports significant inequity in access 
to justice, favoring the rich over the poor, and grossly 
inadequate number of labor jurisdiction public defenders, and 
generally negative impression of the efficacy of the system 
from the perspective of the user and the average citizen who 
has never had contact with the labor justice system. 
Generally workers are not aware of their rights under the 
law, or how to register a claim.  Significant levels of 
corruption and influence peddling are reported, particularly 
involving collusion between private lawyers, prosecutors, and 
judges to lower claims and "buy" cases from workers who can't 
afford to wait months for a final settlement. 
 
Sustained and effective USAID assistance has focused on 
forming civil society and government partnerships to improve 
the administration of the criminal justice system.  Today, as 
a result of their efforts, the Dominican Republic has a 
functioning and dramatically improved Criminal Procedures 
Code that respects the rights of the accused and encourages 
speedier resolutions of disputes.  However, those 
improvements have not generally affected the labor justice 
system, which has changed little over the past several years 
and as a result has failed to keep up with developments in 
other areas of Dominican law. 
 
The Department of Labor Cumple y Gana project has a good 
track record for its work with the Dominican Labor Ministry. 
Stakeholders agree that the training provided to labor 
inspectors has vastly increased their skills and performance, 
and institution building activities have been successful. 
For this reason, focus in this project on the Ministry of 
Labor is minimal. 
 
Expected Results: 
-- An increase in awareness among members of government and 
civil society of the problems facing Dominican labor courts 
and the steps that can be taken to address them. 
-- The development of a comprehensive assessment that 
identifies problems and proposes effective solutions, to be 
used in future projects that deal with labor courts. 
 
Specific Activities: 
-- Assessment of staffing of labor court system and 
evaluation of a representative sample of recent labor court 
decisions. 
-- Document labor case statistics, in the court system and at 
the level of the Ministry of Labor:  assure the publication 
of court level and national level statistics on case load, 
resolution times, percent of cases conciliated, percent of 
salary decrease in final resolution for litigated and 
conciliated cases, and 'pre-judicial' case load (cases 
resolved before entering the court system). 
-- An analysis of labor court procedures to identify 
procedural reforms that can be modified through 
administrative decree to increase efficiency and access. 
-- Elaboration of proposals for appropriate training in 
international labor standards and Dominican labor regulations. 
 
Illustrative Indicators: 
-- Number of civil society groups offering feedback in this 
process. 
-- Number of meetings hosted between Ministry of Labor and 
civil society representatives. 
-- Development of comprehensive reports summarizing the 
results of the assessment. 
 
 
Relationship to FY2005 - FY2006 CAFTA-DR Funding: 
Strengthening Labor Justice - USD 7 million 
Case tracking, case management, and jurisprudence management 
Raising professionalism of the judiciary and related 
judiciary operators (prosecutors, public defenders, etc.) 
Streamlining and improving judicial procedures (e.g. oral 
procedures, conciliation, small claims) 
 
C)  PIPELINE/MORTGAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM: 
USAID has an existing program that can be used to provide an 
administrative basis for this program. 
 
D)  LINKAGE TO THE WHITE PAPER AND TRADE: 
Assessing the needs of the labor courts could be a necessary 
first step in any eventual initiative to conduct specific 
reforms or improvements.  Even if such a subsequent USG 
initiative failed to materialize, by having an unbiased and 
comprehensive assessment of the needs of the labor courts, 
including suggestions to improve them, it would be much 
easier for the Dominican government to implement such 
improvements in the future.  This undertaking would support 
the Administration of Labor Justice priority area in the 
White Paper, including its recommendation to "enhance 
operation of the labor courts." 
 
E)  LOCAL BUY-IN: 
The Director-General of the Ministry of Labor first proposed 
a version of this project to Embassy personnel when he was 
asked to evaluate the needs of the Dominican labor court 
system.  There is a well-established and capable network of 
Dominican civil-society groups who have worked closely on the 
modernization of the criminal justice system, and who would 
likely be very eager to assist in this project as well. 
 
F)  STATUS OF PROGRESS TO DATE: 
This is a new project. 
 
G) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: 
The Embassy will provide active public diplomacy support to 
all CAFTA-DR capacity-building assistance. 
HERTELL