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.

U.S.-based corporations, Dole and Fresh Del Monte/Del Monte Foods, compete as the world’s largest exporters of fresh and processed pineapple, while labor and environmental abuses run rampant in their supply chains. Leading labor advocacy NGOs, ASEPROLA of Costa Rica and EILER of the Philippines, provided the majority of the research for the new report.
 
“The corporations profiting off of the pineapple trade need to step up to the plate and respect human rights in their supply chains,” said Bama Athreya, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF).

Workers and communities in pineapple growing regions are frequently exposed to toxic agrochemicals while their communities have suffered from contaminated water, according to the report. Workers have said that working in the pineapple fields takes a toll on their health and wellbeing. They toil for long hours in the hot sun for low pay and suffer from the side effects of pesticide exposure, among other health and safety problems. Increased land use for pineapple cultivation has left more communities dependant on expensive food imports and has led to environmental degradation.
 
Few pineapple workers have been able to engage in collective bargaining to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions. Union membership in the pineapple sector has declined drastically in the last decade both in the Philippines and Costa Rica due to successful company intimidation. The report shows how Dole has replaced over two-thirds of its workforce in the Philippines with contract labor through a system of “labor cooperatives” to weaken the union and evade the company’s responsibilities to its workers. These workers are exempt from basic labor rights, do not receive social benefits and are paid less than regular workers through piece-rate or quota based pay systems.
 
Omar Salazar, the Executive Director of ASEPROLA stated, “When it comes to pineapples, we have two important goals: the workers who grow the pineapples in Costa Rica must be able to live a decent life and consumers should rest assured knowing that the pineapples they eat were produced under humane working conditions, without damaging people or nature.”
 
Dole is currently seeking to increase its investment in the Philippines by expanding production, and is requesting special trade benefits from the U.S. government to help fund the expansion. ILRF will be testifying at the hearing scheduled for today (October 20, 2008), to request that before any additional special benefits are granted to fuel Dole’s expansion, U.S. government officials must require that Dole take measures to ensure that pineapple workers enjoy their internationally recognized rights and decent working conditions.
 
Click here to read the full report.