1 May 2008

This week marks six years since Ecuadorian banana workers producing Bonita (Noboa) bananas went on strike in support of humane working conditions. The violent response of the company and the ensuing efforts to form a trade union revealed that one of the biggest obstacles facing most of Ecuador's banana workers was that they were employed by sub-contracting companies, who were often no more than phantom companies designed to stop them claiming their rights. Rural workers' and small farmers' federation FENACLE took up the issue of labour sub-contracting and, after a campaign of over five years, has succeeded in getting national legislation seriously curbing labour sub-contracting through the new Constituent Assembly put in place by the government of Rafael Correa. The text of the legislation was approved on 30th April.  FENACLE President, Guillermo Touma, elected to be one of the 130 members of the Constituent Assembly comments: 'Even if we would have liked the law to go even further, we believe this is a sure sign that the citizen's revolution is getting stronger by the day. It is dedicated to the 19 workers who were injured in May 2002 at the Los Alamos plantation because they dared to question exploitation."

30 April 2008

In May 2007, the Common Fund for Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Development Programme and the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries joined forces to launch the Global Initiative on Commodities (GIC)—an inter-institutional initiative aimed at leveraging the power of commodity production and trade as a positive force for sustainable development across the developing world.  In the context of stagnant WTO agricultural talks in the framework of the Doha Round, the GIC aims to create a common voice to break the “conspiracy of silence” which has engulfed commodity-based development strategies over the past two decades.

21 April 2008, Lawson Dodd

Pratts Bananas, one of the UK’s leading fruit importers, and GMB, one of the country’s biggest trade unions, today warmly welcomed the results of an ACAS membership check of GMB union members which will now lead to a voluntary bargaining agreement being signed by both parties.  The GMB’s involvement will further support Pratts at their site in Luton, which employs nearly 500 people.

15 April, Patrick McGroarty (Berlin)

A new study by Oxfam Germany claims that German discount supermarkets contribute to the poor treatment of fruit-farm workers in developing nations. Savings for German consumers, Oxfam argues, are making life miserable for Latin American laborers -- who are badly paid and exposed to dangerous chemicals.

31 March 2008

This is the story of how a group of workers in a banana plantation owned by the Costa Rican subsidiary of Fresh Del Monte overcame the tactics of intimidation and repression practised by most fruit companies in that country.

Supermarket buyers are assured by auditors that the company complies with international labour standards by allowing its employees the freedom to join any organisation of their choosing. However, on the ground in Costa Rica, behind the smoke-screen of permanent workers' committees, 'direct agreements' and voluntary social certification is the harsh reality of a company that, like many others, funds a permanent anti-union campaign.

WINFA Makes Historic Breakthrough (20 March 2008)

Workers demand fairer share of Suriname banana profits (19 March 2008)

Central American Agriculture at Stake (February 2008)

Please visit the News Archive to read these and other archived News stories