Gildan

As of 2007, Gildan Activewear Inc.—a major Canadian multinational apparel manufacturer—moved its previously unionized Canadian and US production to Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, where it has pursued aggressive anti-union “sweatshop” policies. Until recently becoming a high-profile brand name, Gildan had historically focused on producing apparel at the absolute lowest cost possible.

Despite Gildan moving its production to low-wage jurisdictions and its headquarters to a Caribbean tax haven, Ottawa has continued to advance the company’s interests. In 2004, Ottawa helped overthrow Haiti's elected government and backed a military coup in Honduras five years later partly to protect Gildan’s ultra-low-wage production model.

At the start of 2003, Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government increased the Haitian minimum wage from 36 gourdes (US$1) a day to 70 gourdes. Naturally, this was opposed by domestic and international capital, which used Haiti’s lowest wages in the hemisphere as a way to beat back workers’ demands in other Caribbean and Central American countries. At the time, most of Gildan’s work in Haiti was subcontracted to Andy Apaid, who led “the Group of 184” (a domestic “civil society” group consisting of Haiti’s most prominent multimillionaires and sweatshop owners) that pushed to overthrow Aristide’s elected government. Shortly after the 29 February 2004 US/France/Canada coup in Haiti, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade stated that “some Canadian companies are looking to shift garment production to Haiti.” By 2009, Gildan was the country’s largest employer after the state, employing up to 8,000 Haitians (directly and indirectly) in Port-au-Prince’s assembly sector.

In Honduras, President Manuel Zelaya had raised the minimum wage by 60 percent at the start of 2009. Gildan’s opposition to Zelaya’s move to increase the minimum wage was one reason Ottawa tacitly supported the military ouster of the elected president later that year. Under pressure from the Maquila Solidarity Network (a labour rights organization), Honduras-based multinational apparel companies like Nike and Gap released a statement calling for the restoration of the Zelaya government three weeks after the military ouster. However, with half of its operations in the country, Gildan refused to sign this statement. Since the coup, Gildan’s Honduran workforce has grown from 11,000 to 26,000, making it the largest private employer in the country.