USA Rejects Dominican Sugar Imports Tied To Forced Labor

[RAMROD 117,004]

The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it will detain all imports of sugar and related products made in the Dominican Republic by Central Romana Corporation, Ltd. amid allegations that it uses forced labor.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation found that the company allegedly isolated workers, withheld wages, fostered abusive working and living conditions and pushed for excessive overtime, the agency said in a news release.

“Manufacturers like Central Romana, who fail to abide by our laws, will face consequences as we root out these inhumane practices from U.S. supply chains,” said AnnMarie Highsmith with the CBP’s Office of Trade.

Central Romana, which has long faced those types of accusations, is the Dominican Republic’s largest sugar producer in an industry that exports more than $100 million worth of products to the U.S. every year.

One of Central Romana’s owners is the Florida-based Fanjul Corp.

The announcement was cheered by activists who have long decried the treatment of tens of thousands of workers who live and work on sprawling sugarcane fields, many of them Haitian migrants or descendants of them.

“This is needed to improve their situation,” Roudy Joseph, a labor rights activist in the Dominican Republic, said in a phone interview. “We’ve been asking for improvements for decades.”

Joseph noted that at least 6,000 workers also are demanding pensions for which they paid dues but that were suspended by Dominican President Luis Abinader.

Sugarcane workers also have organized several protests this year to demand permanent residencies after working for decades in the Dominican Republic, which is now cracking down on Haitian migrantsunder Abinader in a move that has drawn heavy international criticism.
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dominican-sugar-imports-tied-to-forced-labor-rejected-by-us/2022/11/23/94a5b426-6b3b-11ed-8619-0b92f0565592_story.html

 

A right thing to do

[misha4ever 2,077]

The hypocrisy...

[StarstruckIllusion 53,563]

1 hour ago, misha4ever said:

The hypocrisy...

…is where?

[misha4ever 2,077]

17 minutes ago, StarstruckIllusion said:

…is where?

There are several business in DR (and in every country where they can pay much less for workforce) that are owned by the US that have the worst treatment of employers compared with local business. Long hours, not allowed to sit not even in their 5 mins breaks except for eating, high numbers of employers getting fired over any excuse (it's cheaper to hire new ones than keep old employers), hospitals full of people with diseases working from those business, etc etc etc

Basically everything you read up there they do in every business owned by US in every country, especially third world ones. I work as a general doctor for a small free clinic near one of those business and I receive A LOT of employers telling me horror stories and they come with multiple issues (kidney failures, vertebral hernias, etc).

The issues with Central Romana are probably because the Dominican associates aren't abiding to the US rules or something got wrong behind the curtains but I assure you, is not because the US government noble heart and care for people.

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,939]

Throwing rocks in a glass house. 

[Economy 52,840]

23 hours ago, misha4ever said:

There are several business in DR (and in every country where they can pay much less for workforce) that are owned by the US that have the worst treatment of employers compared with local business. Long hours, not allowed to sit not even in their 5 mins breaks except for eating, high numbers of employers getting fired over any excuse (it's cheaper to hire new ones than keep old employers), hospitals full of people with diseases working from those business, etc etc etc

Basically everything you read up there they do in every business owned by US in every country, especially third world ones. I work as a general doctor for a small free clinic near one of those business and I receive A LOT of employers telling me horror stories and they come with multiple issues (kidney failures, vertebral hernias, etc).

The issues with Central Romana are probably because the Dominican associates aren't abiding to the US rules or something got wrong behind the curtains but I assure you, is not because the US government noble heart and care for people.

This! I keep saying all this "righteousness" and "standing up for what is right" by celebs and politicians or anyone with a name is all about an image

 

Random situations become a focal point for a lot of attention while countless other simmilar situations get totally ignored in much greater numbers

 

I hate how when something goes viral or on the spotlight it becomes a symbol of moral superiority and if u don't join that train or boycott ur horrible meanwhile something else just as terrible or worse is fine because it doesn't have the spotlight at the moment

 

Our markets in the developed world (not just the US) are totally saturated with borderline slave labor, exploitation and very often probably broken laws as well. If you shop at Walmart the history of how half the items in your cart were made probably would disgust you. What makes this one product so different all of a sudden?

 

On 12/2/2022 at 10:58 PM, StarstruckIllusion said:

…is where?

 

[GoldenEmperor 50]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:16 AM, misha4ever said:

There are several business in DR (and in every country where they can pay much less for workforce) that are owned by the US that have the worst treatment of employers compared with local business. Long hours, not allowed to sit not even in their 5 mins breaks except for eating, high numbers of employers getting fired over any excuse (it's cheaper to hire new ones than keep old employers), hospitals full of people with diseases working from those business, etc etc etc

Basically everything you read up there they do in every business owned by US in every country, especially third world ones. I work as a general doctor for a small free clinic near one of those business and I receive A LOT of employers telling me horror stories and they come with multiple issues (kidney failures, vertebral hernias, etc).

The issues with Central Romana are probably because the Dominican associates aren't abiding to the US rules or something got wrong behind the curtains but I assure you, is not because the US government noble heart and care for people.

I agree