13 May 2009, Banana Link

The Guatemalan union, UNSITRAGUA has submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court in response to the reversal of a labour court judge’s decision in 2008 which ordered the reinstatement of the workers of Olga Maria. Olga Maria is a company that supplies Chiquita Brands.

17 April 2009, www.refertrends.com

Union Sintrainagro has called for an indefinite strike starting next week following
the failure of negotiations over a reform of working practices.

March 2009, Bridges

European and Latin American negotiators appear to be nearing a conclusion to the WTO’s longest-running dispute, unofficial sources from both sides say.

In February, the EU reportedly offered to lower its most-favoured-nation banana tariff from -176 per metric tonne to -114 per tonne by 2019. This is three years later than was envisaged in the compromise reached during the WTO ‘mini-ministerial’ in July 2008. When that meeting collapsed, the EU took the deal off the table, insisting it was contingent on a successful conclusion of Doha Round negotiating modalities.

February 2008, ITUC

A new ITUC report on core labour standards in Guatemala issued to coincide with the trade policy review at the WTO demonstrates how trade unionists are being discriminated against, threatened and even murdered as a result of their trade union activities.

The ITUC report particularly condemns the failure of the Guatemalan government to ensure that the murders of trade unionists are investigated and prosecuted. 'The killings, the death threats and the harassment must be stopped immediately,' stated Guy Ryder, ITUC general secretary. 'The continuous violent repression of workers' right to form and join trade unions shows that the government is failing to implement the ILO Conventions it has ratified and that trade unionists do not have the liberty to carry out their union tasks without risking their lives.'

February 2009, Bananalink

Unions and media from Costa Rica are concerned about the new “Social and Economic Plan” presented by President Oscar Arias' government to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis.

February 2009, Fairtrade Foundation

Eat a Fairtrade banana and be part of the world's biggest banana event. The Fairtrade Foundation are celebrating the success of Fairtrade bananas in the UK where one in every four bananas sold is Fairtrade certified with plans to make this 50% by 2012.

Read more...

27 January 2009, Action Aid

Moves last week by Asda and Morrisons to slash the price of bananas were branded shockingly irresponsible by development charities today. They say the price cuts are a serious setback in the ongoing battle to improve the appallingly poor conditions endured by plantation workers in the developing world. Campaigners fear that other supermarkets will follow suit and slash prices. 

Read more...

Read a response to Banana Link concerns about the banana price wars from Asda boss Andy Bond. 

14 January 2009

Last Thursday an earthquake hit the Sarapaqui banana producing region of Costa Rica which only last month was devastated by flooding leaving thousands homeless and without jobs. Local media report at least 40 dead and over 500 houses destroyed by the earthquake, although our union partners fear the death toll is higher with many more yet to be accounted for since the earthquake struck.

18 December, ITUC

“The international trade union movement is keeping a close watch on the responses to the economic and financial crisis to ensure that they are not at the expense of the fundamental rights of migrant workers,” warned Guy Ryder, general secretary of the ITUC. At a time of massive job losses, migrant workers, often confined to the most precarious and least protected jobs, are in the front line of the economic and financial crisis.  Their families in their countries of origin could also be badly affected, as they often depend heavily for their survival on money sent home by the migrant workers.

15 December 2008, International Labor Rights Forum

A new report by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) shows how global food corporations fail to respect human rights, public health and the environment in their supply chains. The report demonstrates how pineapple workers and their communities in two of the largest pineapple producing nations, Costa Rica and the Philippines, have not enjoyed the benefits of the expanding profits from the pineapple export sector. Trade benefits awarded to these countries have not improved labor or environmental conditions, though Dole is currently petitioning the U.S. Trade Representative for further tariff reductions on its pineapple products.

15 December 2008, International Labor Rights Forum

A new report published by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), to mark International Human Rights Day, has highlighted corporations known for violating workers’ freedom of association and right to organize. Selected on the basis of their ties to violence against trade unions and suppression of the universal right to organise, this year’s top offenders include three of the main actors along the international tropical fruit supply chain - Dole, Del Monte and Wal-Mart. 

December 2008
Torrential rains have destroyed banana plantations in the Caribbean coastal regions of Costa Rica. It is estimated that up to 10,000 hectares have been affected which could lead to the loss of 10,000 jobs in the banana export industry. At least 46,000 people have been rendered homeless with damage running into tens of millions of US dollars. A state of emergency has been declared in the Limon and Sarapiqui regions.

27 November 2008, www.freshplaza.com

An appeal by the EU has fallen through after the WTO confirmed that the bloc's banana import policies were inconsistent with global trade rules
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has this week ruled that the European Union's import tariffs for bananas break global commerce rules, dismissing an appeal by the bloc. The decision confirms the verdict reached by the WTO's dispute settlement panel in April, which ruled that duties should be brought in line with global trade agreements, following complaints by Ecuador and the US that current tariffs unfairly favoured African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries.

24 November 2008, www.reefertrends.com

Costa Rica's independent banana producers are asking the Government to impose a 19% increase to cover the rise in production costs. The current reference price of US$7.17 per box is due for revision on 1 January 2009 – the independent producers, who account for 16K hectares of the total estimated 40K hectares of banana production in Costa Rica, are asking that the price paid to them by the exporters should rise to US$8.50 per box. The reasons behind the demand include a rise in the cost of controlling Black Sigatoka, increased packaging and fertilizer costs. Only three months ago the reference price was increased from US$6.45 per box to account for an increase in production costs.

16 November 2008, www.reefertrends.com

Ethiopia currently produces an estimated 200K MT of bananas per year, all of which is destined for domestic consumption. Efforts are underway to enable Ethiopia supply banana to the world market for the first time, according to an Ethiopian investor engaged in banana cultivation. In an interview published with the Ethiopian News Agency ENA the investor, Gebrekerstos Gad claimed that his company was undertaking various activities to improve the quality of banana in preparation for an export push. “We already have started quality improving activities through the application of tissue culture, [agricultural practice used to propagate plants under germ-free conditions] to get our own quality banana varieties,” he said. He claimed his company has had similar experiences in the Cameroon and that it plans to start exporting bananas next year.

13 November 2008

The Costa Rican press has reported that Brussels will make a new proposal for reducing the EU banana tariff, following the demise of the 'peace agreement' brokered by WTO Director-general Pascal Lamy in Geneva in late July. It is understood that the offer will be made in the framework of the EU-Central America Association Agreement negotiations currently at their half-way point. If accepted, the proposal would see an initla fall from 176 euros/tonne to 148 euros on 1st January 2009, then a gradual step-by-step reduction to 95 euros over a period of ten years.

 The Latin America 2008 conference Making a Better World Possible will be taking place in London on 6th December. The event brings together trade unionists, NGOs, academics and progressive movements from Latin America and the UK to explore recent developments across the region.

4th November, San José

Trade unions from both private and public sector in Costa Rica have lodged a formal complaint against their government, alleging serious and systematic violations of core international labour standards. The complaint is directed to the European Commission which, since January 2006, grants trade preferences on a wide range of products as part of its Generalised System of Preferences "Plus" scheme.

3rd November, Radiojamaica.com

Scores of workers who are to be made redundant at the Eastern Banana Estates in St. Thomas are asking to take over ownership of the land they had worked. The workers are among a group of 500 who assembled on Friday morning to receive their redundancy payments. The Estate closed down after it was destroyed by Tropical Storm Gustav in August of this year.

4 November 2008, jamaica-gleaner.com

Prime Minister Bruce Golding painted a bleak picture of the future of the banana industry last Tuesday, during a sitting of the House of Representatives. "What we need to do is to move with the land resources we have, the infrastructure that is there to see how we can diversify," Golding told the House. Already, the chief producers of banana for export have pulled out of production. The straw that broke the camel's back was Tropical Storm Gustav, which destroyed a vast percentage of banana crops in eastern Jamaica.

27 October 2008

Voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution on Sunday 28th September that amongst other things ended labour sub-contracting in all sectors of the economy in Ecuador and heralded other important reforms to labour law. The new constitution also includes reference to the idea of food sovereignty - a world first. Despite constant predictions of a close vote, nearly 64% of the voters approved and only 29% were against.

27 October 2008

On 3rd November, as part of a European visit coordinated by the ITUC, two Guatemalan trade unionists Carlos Humberto Carballo (General Secretary of the CUSG union federation) and María de los Ángeles Ruano (UNSITRAGUA), will speak at an evening event in London organised by Amnesty International, and supported by ICTUR, ITF, IUF and Banana Link. Download the event flyer & programme, or further details and to register for this free event, visit:
www.amnesty.org.uk/tradeunions or www.amnesty.org.uk/events

Read more...

20 October 2008

A new report by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) shows how global food corporations fail to respect human rights, public health and the environment in their supply chains. The report demonstrates how pineapple workers and their communities in two of the largest pineapple producing nations, Costa Rica and the Philippines, have not enjoyed the benefits of the expanding profits from the pineapple export sector. Trade benefits awarded to these countries have not improved labor or environmental conditions, though Dole is currently petitioning the U.S. Trade Representative for further tariff reductions on its pineapple products.

In the last few months, since the Ecuadorian National Assembly voted in new legislation outlawing labour sub-contracting across all sectors of the economy (thanks solely to a six-year campaign by banana plantation workers and FENACLE), workers have lost the fear to organise and ten new unions have sprung up in banana, pineapple and sugar plantations since 1st May (when the legislation was approved). So far, even the erstwhile most hostile employers have not sacked people who have created the new unions.

8 September 2008

On October 7 2008 the global trade union movement is organising a World Day for Decent Work. This is an unparalleled opportunity for trade unions and organisations interested in Decent Work all around the world to join a broad global mobilisation involving a large number of people and a wide range of activities. A successful day will focus attention on the urgent need for a new globalisation. Click here for more information and to support the World Day for Decent Work.

8 September 2008

Abilio Castro, legal officer of ATC Chinandega rural workers'association, will recieve the hip replacement he desperately needs thanks to the incredible generosity of the London Region of the GMB. "This is an extraordinary act of solidarity along the supply chain between British and Latin American workers. GMB London Regional Secretary Ed Blissett and his colleagues met Abilio during a delegation visit to Latin America this year and are aware of the importance of Abilio's continued ability to work on behalf of his members in Nicaragua." commented Banana Link's National Coordinator, Jacqui Mackay.

28 August 2008, Dave Sherwood in The Miami Herald

Many environmentalists and residents say the explosive growth in pineapple production in Costa Rica has outpaced the government's ability to regulate it. Three of every four pineapples consumed in the United States originates in Costa Rica.

13 August 2008, Gavin Fridell, www.rabble.ca/news
 
One of the major sideshows at the Doha round negotiations in Geneva that collapsed in stalemate at the end of July was the latest round in the "banana wars." Latin American banana exporters have long argued that their significantly cheaper bananas have faced unfair barriers in European markets because of a special trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and its former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

23 August, 2008 

Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent are now exporting approximately 1,800 tonnes of bananas a week, 50% more than before Hurricane Dean struck in August 2007. Damage from the storm was so severe that officials initially expressed fear the industry would not recover. The storm did the most damage in Dominica, wiping out nearly all its banana crops. Exports from the former British colony dropped from 2,800 tonnes in the first quarter of 2007 to 745 tonnes over the same period this year. The National Fair Trade Organisation of Dominica and the local government were instrumental in providing assistance that helped the recovery. The biggest challenge for the industry has been attracting workers who can earn more in the construction and tourism sectors.

23 July 2008, Luisa Cheshire www.fruitnet.com

A possible end to the long-running banana war could be imminent following a significant concessionary proposal put forward by six Latin American countries.  A two-pronged counter proposal tabled by six Latin American countries on Monday could signal the end to the long-running dispute with ACP nations over banana imports into the European Union (EU). In a concessionary move to the ACP, the so-called 'Tropical Products Group' of WTO member governments – comprising Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Bolivia and Nicaragua – has offered to leave bananas out of a list of products (tariff lines) for which they are pushing duty-free access to the EU.

22 July 2008, www.reefertrends.com /Spanish press

A group of Latin American exporters has offered to drop tariff demands on a range of other tropical fruits in exchange for a marginal adjustment to the WTO proposal.  Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Bolivia will reportedly accept a tariff that is only marginally different from the offer tabled by the WTO. According to reports in the Spanish Press the group has tabled a counter offer to the WTO’s Director General.  On offer last week was an immediate drop in the import tariff from €176 per MT to €150 per MT and then a staged fall to a landing zone figure of €116 per MT on 1 January 2015.

19 July 2008, Sir Ronald Sanders on www.caribbeannetnews.com

It seems that Caribbean countries can now forget any idea of Britain being helpful to them in any attempt to review or re-negotiate aspects of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and Cariforum countries initialled last December.  Foreign Ministers of Cariforum countries, who travelled to London for a two-day meeting of the UK-Caribbean forum on 15-16 July, found a communiqué already written mostly by the British but with input from some Caribbean High Commissioners.  The draft was a one-sided affair which took no cognizance of the serious disagreements over the EPA that now exist in both the Caribbean and the EU. Reading it, anyone would be forgiven for believing that the EU had given the Caribbean everything, asking nothing in return. Indeed, it read as if the EPA was the Caribbean’s salvation.

18 July 2008

Ecuador is tipped to join a reformed Unión de Países Exportadores de Banano, the South and Central American banana exporters’ rough equivalent to OPEC. UPEB was originally created by Panamanian President Omar Torrijos Herrera in 1974 as a way for Central American countries to obtain higher prices for their farmers. However it never achieved its goals and was dissolved in 2002.

18 July 2008

Sir Ronald Sanders, a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat, takes a critical look at the EPA between the EU and the Caribbean and calls on Caribbean countries to stop being taken for a ride by the EU. It has become patently evident that the European Union (EU) is taking the Caribbean for a ride over the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) initialled last December. The Caribbean has to stop the ride and renegotiate the deeply troubling aspects of the EPA before any signing takes place.

18 July 2008

A plan by the EU to cut the price of bananas threatens to derail next week's last-ditch talks to save the stalled world trade liberalisation negotiations.  African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have said they will walk out of the ministerial talks on the so-called Doha round in Geneva if their preferential treatment for banana exports to the EU is scrapped or watered down too far.  The dispute arose after the European commission said last night that it had accepted, in principle, compromise proposals on banana exports tabled by Pascal Lamy, WTO director general, last week.

14 July 2008

After 15 years of trade wars over the European Union's banana import arrangements, the end may at last be in sight. On Saturday 12th July, the Office of the Director General of the World Trade organisation (Pascal Lamy) tabled a Banana Agreement for the consideration and eventual agreement of the other countries concerned: namely Mexico, USA, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, India, China, Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand and Suriname (on behalf of the ACP group of countries). These countries have been parties to what the WTO calls 'the enlarged good offices on bananas', a process of secret inter-governmental negotiations involving meetings in Geneva, breakfasts in Accra and, doubtless, many others that may or may not go down in history.

1 July 2008

It is now just less than a month until Caribbean governments are to sign onto the EPA.  Despite the rhetoric around the ministers signing and the benefits of the agreements, the actions, resistance and voices of citizens and campaigners have been making a dent in the process and, on the eve of signature, governments are slowly but surely coming out to say it is a bad deal  (St Lucia & Guyana) 

27 June 2008, press release from Dole Food Company, Westlake Vollage, California

Dole Food Company, Inc. today announced the implementation of new, progressive environmental agricultural practices for pineapple production in Costa Rica.

Dole’s decision in October of 2007 to discontinue the use of paraquat was quickly implemented worldwide on both company and contracted grower farms. Costa Rica presented specific challenges where the cattle fly (stomoxys calcitrans) could multiply rapidly and reach harmful levels if crop residues were not desiccated by this herbicide.

24 June 2008, www.organicmonitor.com

A rise in ethical consumerism is spiking demand for organic and fair trade fresh produce in Europe. New research by Organic Monitor (www.organicmonitor.com) shows that sales of ethical fruit & vegetables surpassed the EUR 5 billion mark for the first time in 2007.

Fairtrade fruit & vegetables are reporting the highest growth, with sales expanding by 92% last year. High growth is occurring as a number of European supermarkets make fairtrade commitments. Most developments have been in the UK where Sainsbury’s and Waitrose converted their entire banana supply to fairtrade in 2007. A quarter of all bananas are now certified fairtrade in the UK, the highest market share for any EU country.

17 June 2008

On the morning of Monday 9th, José Carrera Ormaza, the acting president of FENACLE, handed over a zafrero machete to the Minister of Labour and Employment Antonio Gagliardo, as a gesture of appreciation for the progress made on the mandate 008, on labour subcontracting.

26 May 2008, The Guardian

A supermarket banana price war has broken out and been widely condemned by overseas aid charities. Asda triggered the battle when it cut the cost of a kilo of the fruit from 77p to 72p last Wednesday. Tesco and Morrisons followed suit the next day and Sainsbury's, which sells only Fairtrade bananas, matched the 5p reduction 24 hours later.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

20 March 2008

After over five decades in which Windward Island farmers have had no control over the marketing of their bananas, the farmers' organisation WINFA - with several thousand members in Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Dominica and Grenada - has signed a contract last week to sell bananas to a single marketing company WIBDECO.

19 March 2008, Caribbean Net News

Former Dutch colony Suriname is not as well known for its banana industry as many countries in the Caribbean basin and news from there is rare. However, following restructuring of the state company SBBS, including partial privatisation and a significant input of EU aid, workers have become increasingly unhappy about pressure to raise productivity without corresponding remuneration. A fortnight ago, workers on the other big plantation threatened action if their new union was not recognised by SBBS management.

12 March 2008

On March 2nd, Guatemalan banana union leader, Miguel Angel Ramirez of SITRABANSUR, was shot dead. SITRABANSUR, which is affiliated to Banana Links Guatemala partner union UNSITRAGUA, was founded by Miguel Ramirez and his fellow workers at the ‘Olga Maria’ plantation in the Pacific South of Guatemala in July 2007. Since then SITRABANSUR members have been harassed and threatened by private security hired by the company -Frutera Internacional Sociedad Anónima, supplier to Chiquita Brands- and 24 union members have been sacked. UNSITRAGUA has been working with SITRABANSUR to support these sacked workers and strengthen union organisation on the Olga Maria plantation.

ITUC, 1 February 2008

Yesterday saw the conclusion of the international conference on the role of trade unions in the fight against impunity, held in Guatemala City by the ITUC, its regional organisations ORIT and CLAT, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the ITUC’s Guatemalan affiliates, the CGTG and CUSG.  The event was inaugurated by the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom. At the close of the event, the Conference Declaration was handed over to the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Edgar A. Rodriguez, for submission to the Guatemalan authorities.

19 December 2007, WIBDECO/WINFA press release

15 August 2007, the Associated Press

A worker from Honduras has testified in a Los Angeles courtroom that he and his wife tried for a decade to have children but failed to conceive after he went to work on a banana plantation where the pesticide DBCP was used.  Espinoza is one of a dozen banana farm workers who are suing Dole Fresh Fruit Co. and Standard Fruit Co., now part of Dole, charging that exposure to DBCP -- the abbreviation for dibromochloropropane -- in the 1970s made them sterile. The lawsuit also said that Dow Chemical Co. "actively suppressed information about DBCP's reproductive toxicity."

26 July 2007

In 2005, Chiquita informed the EU competition authorities that some of its staff may have been guilty of sharing price information and market fixing with other big banana and pineapple companies. This triggered a surprise raid on offices in Ireland, UK, Germany and Belgium by Brussels competition police in the earlier hours of June 4th 2005.

13 July 07

Reefer Trends, 4 July 2007

The US decision to start fresh legal action against the EU’s reformed banana import regime has damaged hopes for a negotiated settlement to the long-running banana war.

“It is an unfortunate move by the US,” said the Commission in a statement. “It disregards efforts that the EU continues to make to reach a negotiated solution which takes account of all the banana-exporting countries,” he said. “We have got into line with the WTO ruling on bananas. We think the current regime is compatible with international rules.” The European Commission said it was confident its changed tariff policy, introduced last year after it lost a WTO case brought by Washington and several Latin American banana producers, would stand up to scrutiny.