A Haitian labor federation used World Teachers' Day, Monday, October 5, to call teachers and public employees to mobilize over unpaid wages and broken promises.

The Centrale Unitaire des Travailleurs des Secteurs Public et Privé d'Haïti (CUTRASEPH), led by secretary general Josué Mérilien, says the Education Ministry opened the school year on September 7 without honoring its commitments to teachers. It says August salaries and the “14th month” bonus owed to public employees have not been paid.

The union is demanding that the government respect an agreement signed on January 20, 2026, pay the arrears and the bonus, take politics out of the National Education Fund (FNE) and end what it calls arbitrary measures against teachers. It also objects to an announced 15% increase in payroll deductions starting in October.

It points to conditions in the Artibonite, where teachers in the valley must travel to Gonaïves to collect their paychecks. Teachers in Saint-Marc, Petite-Rivière-de-l'Artibonite, Verrettes, La Gonâve and Grand-Goâve are increasingly exposed to gang threats, the union says.

CUTRASEPH says it has filed a complaint with the anti-corruption unit, the ULCC, asking for investigations into the management of funds at the state vehicle insurance office, the OAVCT, and other institutions.

World Teachers' Day marks the adoption on October 5, 1966, of an international recommendation on the status of teachers. The government has not publicly responded to the union's call.