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August 2007
A general resolution was made at the 9th COLSIBA conference, held on August 3rd and 4th in Changuinola, Panama; the home of the SITRAIBANA union.
Banana workers unions of Latin America and active members of COLSIBA, the Coordinating Body of Latin American of Banana Workers Unions, were reunited for the ninth conference in its 14 years of existence at the city of Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, Panama, to continue the debate the challenges faced by workers in the banana plantations of Latin America.
Once more, we touched on issues that have accosted us for years. However, we can confirm that year after year our legitimacy has been proved as a representative of banana trade unions in our continent and as an interlocutor in dialogues between multinational companies, the governments and authorities of both producer and consumer countries and also the powerful supermarkets who are increasingly becoming a major influential factor in the banana production, industry and supply chain.
We are strengthened in this 9th conference by the presence of the SITAG, the plantation workers union in Peru, who we encourage to continue in the trenches of social and labour struggle that COLSIBA is now opening.
Once again we continue to analyse what we call the ‘Race to the bottom’, a figurative term indicating the course taken by the banana industry and how it increasingly has a direct effect on workers.
Among several other issues analysed by the 9th COLSIBA conference, we have decided to make the following resolutions, as a message of support and solidarity to the banana workers that accompany us in our struggles, which will guide the work of COLSIBA in the following years:"
Click here to download a copy of the resolution.
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