AGOA: when the employees defend their own cause,

The commercial agreement between the United States and some 40 African countries, through the African growth and opportunity Act, allowed Malagasy enterprises, namely the tax free corporations to boost their activities. The threat to suspend the Great Isle, in response to the putsch back in mid March of 2009 is leaving both corporation and employees in quite an uncomfortable situation. 

Within the next upcoming months, a few 50.000 jobs would have been lost if Madagascar is to be suspended from the AGOA. 

The recent AGOA forum held in Kenya, hasn’t actually yet decided anything about Madagascar’s fate, presumably in expectation of the outcome of political agreements to be signed in Maputo. The employers’ groupings and the representatives of the employees are, however, mobilizing themselves to influence Washington’s decisions. 

Employees concerned by the commercial agreement, those who will be fired if Madagascar is dropped out of it, are currently planning to address a letter to the American administration in order to defend their cause.

These employees are indeed resenting the fact that their fate is suspended to purely political matters. For an “unconstitutional change of government”, these private sector workers are going to pay the bill as a matter of fact.      

During the latest years, the AGOA has been allowing Malagasy enterprises to make significant profits and to create thousands of jobs, thanks to the exports toward the United States. One of the agreement’s objectives was the easing of the African access to the American market, and availability of new suppliers for the United States.