Guadeloupe - Economy
Trade union membership is particularly high in Guadeloupe, particularly in the General Union of Guadeloupe workers (Union générale des travailleurs de Guadeloupe, UGTG). The latter is the island’s largest trade union, winning 51% of the votes cast at the industrial tribunal elections in December 2008.
Guadeloupe recorded many industrial disputes during the late 2002 and early 2003, eventually the General Federation of Guadeloupe Workers (Union Générale des Travailleurs de Guadeloupe, UGTG), which is closely allied to pro-independence political organisations emerged as the most militant trade union and registered an increase in support. 2006 was also marked with strike action, this time among teacher and research assistants.
Following calls by an organisation representing trade unions, political parties and cultural associations in Guadeloupe, a general strike was launched in late January 2009. The strike was held in protest against the high cost of living and included demands for a €200 wage increase. Employer organisations responded by proposing an exemption from employer contributions; however, the prime minister refused this request.
Following a call by the organisation known as the Collective Against Outrageous Exploitation (Collectif contre l’exploitation outrancière/Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon, LKP), a general strike protesting against the high cost of living was held on 20 January 2009 in Guadeloupe.
LKP reiterated that the cost of living in Guadeloupe was about 30% higher than that in mainland France. In particular, the price of food had increased sharply over recent months. Some 70,000 people lived below the poverty threshold in Guadeloupe and the unemployment rate was very high, reaching 27% in 2007. As a result, large-scale protests were organised on 24, 29 and 30 January, involving between 20,000 and 65,000 people.
Finally, a ‘memorandum of understanding’ was signed on 4 March 2009 by LKP and state representatives. The memorandum lists progress made on LKP’s 146 demands. The wage agreement provided for an immediate increase in low wages of €200. As of 7 March, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (Ministère de l’économie, de l’industrie et de l’emploi) announced that the agreement would be extended to cover all companies.
Like most countries in the Caribbean, tourism is of growing importance to Guadeloupe but so far the 2000s have been one of mixed performance. Declines were registered amid concerns about decreasing productivity, poor service quality, high costs, poor management, aging hotel structures, insufficient promotional activity and increased insecurity due to social conflict.
The hotel sector seemed to be negatively affected by the industrial climate as evident by the reasons linked to the Accor group plans to gradually withdrawal from the island. Staff attitudes to customers - which were described as aggressive - poor productivity, the general industrial relations climate and the difficulties in obtaining an encouraging return on their investment were cited among the reasons for its withdrawal.
An estimated 53% of the estimated 46,160 unemployed people [in 2006] were looking for jobs for three years. Among the highest groups affected were young with figures showing that an estimated 48 percent of the unemployed were under 30. Young people tended to delay their entry into the job market by furthering their education or by migrating. An estimated 60 percent of the young people who did not have diplomas were unemployed in June 2006 compared with 21% among the other youths.
In Guadeloupe, banana, sugar, and rum industries continue to have an important hand in these territories’ economies, even though these sectors face persistent difficulties (especially the banana sector) that require that they be subsidized in order to survive. Guadeloupe’s economy experienced sustained growth until 2008; the 2009 economic and social crisis reversed the positive trend. In 2010, 23.5% % of the economically active population of Guadeloupe was unemployed.
The 2009 social crisis, compounded by the global economic recession, resulted in the closing of certain enterprises and lowered investor confidence. Moreover, certain fiscal measures that had buoyed the local economy (such as tax cuts) were rescinded or weakened by the French Government, which severely penalized sectors such as construction and public works, leading to job losses in those sectors since 2009.
Guadeloupe is linked by air and sea to the metropolis, the Caribbean zone, the United States and South America. Alongside the Pôle-Caraïbes international airport in Pointe-à-Pitre, secondary airports have been opened in Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and Les Saintes. Port activity is dominated by the port of Pointe-à-Pitre, but the port of Basse-Terre is developing.
The country is heavily dependent on France as a market for its imports and export as well as for the provision of subsidies and other aids, to keep the country afloat. An average of 75 percent of Guadeloupe's gross national product comes from France.
As an overseas department of France, Guadeloupe is essentially part of the European Union and given its underdeveloped nature compared with this rest of Europe it benefits from aid programmes which are aimed at helping lagging regions of the European Union. These complement efforts made by Metropolitan France, Guadeloupe?s Regional Council and General Council which help to promote investment in small industries, as well as small and medium sized enterprises in priority areas. These areas include tourism, local and regional development, health and emerging growth industries such as information technology and agri-business.
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