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Dole Claims Carbon Neutrality
Reefer Trends, August 2007
US
multi-national Dole has reportedly pledged to reduce to zero carbon
dioxide emissions from its bananas and pineapples grown in Costa Rica.
in collaboration with the Costa Rican ministry of the environment and
energy and the Fondo nacional de Financiamiento Forestal, Dole Food’s
standard Fruit subsidiary will ensure that its entire supply chain is
carbon neutral, from growing the fruit, to packing it, transporting it
and distributing it to markets in North America and Europe. Costa Rica
plans to become a carbon neutral country by 2021.
Download the Reefer Trends article.
Dole Campaign - An Important Step Forward in Costa Rica
April 2007
After ten months of international campaigning by trade unions and NGOs,
Dole Food's Costa Rican subsidiary has signed, on 27th March 2007, a
framework agreement on trade union rights and environmental issues with
Costa Rican plantation workers' unions represented by COSIBA-CR. The
unions concerned see this is a major step forward, although it remains
to be seen in practice whether the company will respect the agreement
on the ground.
Whilst acknowledging the Costa Rican agreement as an
important step forward, the regional coordinating body COLSIBA calls on
supporters in consumer countries to keep up the pressure on Dole since
there has been little or no progress on respect for trade union rights
in other countries where Dole is present, notably in Ecuador, Guatemala
and Peru.
The agreement is particularly significant in that it establishes a
six-person supervisory committee to assess compliance and includes
important commitments to non-interference by anti-union promoters from
the Solidarismo movement. Procedures are also established for raising
trade union rights issues in Dole supplier plantations.
The role of Norwegian importing company Bama Gruppen - which has an
exclusive agreement to supply Dole bananas - is of particular
significance. This follows a TV documentary just after our campaign
launch last May in which Dole and Bama were held responsible for poor
working conditions in Dole's Latin America plantations. Bama played an
important role in brokering the agreement and has signed a witness.
Click here to read the Framework Agreement
Dole Continues Charm Offensive
Reefer Trends, March 2007
Its new corporate social responsibility website 'underscores the
company's commitment to transparency and open communication'. The new
web site is a one-stop resource for consumers and other interested
parties who are seeking information about Dole's industry-leading
environmental, educational, medical and socioeconomic programs. It
also features information on Dole's corporate policies and practices
regarding employees, the environment and charitable giving. The
multi-national was heavily criticised by Pressure Groups and human
rights organisations last year: the document 'Dole, behind the
smokescreen' co-published by Banana Link, the International Union of
Foodworkers, Peuples Solidaires and Banafair among others, accused Dole
of a 'massive failure' to respect the basic human rights of workers
has had an impact.
Visit the Dole Corporate Responsibility website
Dole's Bitter 50th Birthday for Banana and Pineapple Workers
21st September 2006
Dole, the worlds largest fruit company celebrated its 50th birthday
in Costa Rica on the 21st September 2006. However despite the company's
rhetoric on corporate social responsibility, workers on Dole banana and
pineapple plantations are still unable to freely join trade unions for
fear of being harassed or sacked. On of the most frequent types of
anti-union actions by the company is to pressure workers to give up
their union membership and put them on a black-list which prevents them
from getting work in any other plantations in the country; management
offers workers transport, food and a day's pay to go to the union's
offices to give up their membership. These scenes are occurring in many
of the Latin American banana producing countries, such as Guatemala and
Ecuador. The company has shown no serious interest in resolving the
basic labour rights' violations in either their own farms or those of
their suppliers, making this an unhappy 50th birthday.
To show your international solidarity click here and send a clear message to Dole to respect trade union freedom and national and international laws.
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