19 July 2007
 
Following a long process of negotiation between the trade union SITRAP and the Ecoturismo Bananero plantation, the two parties today signed a historic two-year collective bargaining agreement governing labour relations. It is historic because it is the first new collective agreement in the banana industry since the mid 1980s, in a country which has gained an unenviable international reputation for its anti-union culture. 

 

Ecoturismo Bananero S.A. is a small plantation next to the town of Siquirres in the heart of Costa Rica's Atlantic coastal banana region. The farm covers 63 hectares and employs 48 workers. Its bananas are currently sold to the independent British importer and ripener, SH Pratt, for distribution in the UK supermarket chain Tesco.
 
SITRAP's General Secretary, Gilberth Bermudez, comments: "The workers and the union are delighted. As well as the standard clauses, the agreement contains a provision that all workers will be directly employed, and has other important clauses on health and safety, sexual harassment and fair trade. We would like to thank from the bottom of our heart all those who have supported us through the difficult times."

 

The agreement was signed in the Labour Ministry in San José.
For the company: Victoria León Wong and Fernando Shedden Grahan. For the union: committee members - Alexis Corrales Nuñez, Alexis Jiménez Quirós,  Zacarías Navarro Angulo, María Arauz Arauz, Bernardo Hernández Peñaranda; and for the SITRAP executive committee - Mireya Rodriguez Rodriguez and Gilberth Bermúdez.