Displacement of Indigenous People  

The colonisation of large areas of land by banana companies has often driven out or threatened the survival of indigenous populations through the contamination of their rivers, pressure on their lands, as well as the negative effect on their cultural identity when their youth became workers on the plantations. 
  
Migration  

Labour is increasingly provided by migrant workers. In Belize, for example, many of the workers moved from Honduras and Guatemala as plantations there closed. In Costa Rican nearly half the work-force are poor Nicaraguan migrants, whilst in Ecuador more and more workers come over the border from Peru. Living in non-settled communities with little support from family or other social structures, such workers are isolated and vulnerable to exploitation. 

Further Reading

Unions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica join forces to protect migrant workers.   
Interview with Roberto Antonio Ruiz (FETRABACH-CST, Nicaragua)
23 March 2007 

Read Banana Link's latest paper on migration and labour standards .