"For a dignified salary, we are on the streets"

The Union to Union programme builds solidarity links between Latin American and West African trade unions at one end of international banana and pineapple supply chains, and British trade unionists at the other. Banana Link supports the lobbying and advocacy work of nine union partners in Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and directly funds capacity building with the Union of Agricultural Workers, SITAG‐Peru.

This year we are also fundraising to support a grass roots education programme in partnership with FAWU, the Fako Agricultural Workers’ Union, in Cameroon. This is part of our commitment to strengthening relations with plantation worker unions in Cameroon and Ghana and developing South‐to‐South solidarity between our Latin America and West African union partners.

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THE ISSUES

 A race to the bottom is being pursued in the banana and pineapple industries as companies relocate in search of cheaper labour and weaker social and environmental legislation in exporting regions. Low prices and poor conditions ‐ such as poverty wages, trade union repression and poor health and safety – are being driven by the buyer power of supermarkets that squeeze suppliers, passing both price cuts and risks down the supply chain.

Through our Union to Union programme, banana and pineapple workers’ trade unions are organising and training workers on the ground to meet these challenges - lobbying for changes to labour laws, company practices and trade rules at national and international level and sharing experience and knowledge to support constructive dialogue with common multinational employers.

Banana Link and our union partners work closely with the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) and British trade unions to increase the impact of solidarity activities.

RECENT PARTNER ACHIEVEMENTS

• a significant increase in membership - over 50% in 2010 alone - for SITAG Peru.
• a major shift to permanent contracts for workers in many plantations in Ecuador following the outlawing of sub-contracting by the government
• taking a lead role in the establishment of the first ever World Banana Forum, bringing together all the players in the global industry – from plantation to supermarket shelf - to talk about key social and environmental issues.

RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS ACROSS THE REGION

• In Peru, an increase in the minimum wage and end of the anti‐union Law  27360 for the ‘Promotion of Agriculture’, in part due to demands presented by SITAG-Peru to the newly elected President, Ollana Humala.
• The first ever Collective Bargaining Agreement signed by Dole in Ecuador with 487 workers represented by our union partner FENACLE and employed on the Dole ‘Megabananas’ plantation.
• Wage levels and working conditions documented in Cameroon in partnership with union partners FAWU, to support constructive dialogue with employers for a living wage and improved health and safety standards.

SOLIDARITY ACTIVITIES OF BRITISH TRADE UNION PARTNERS

• A historic union to union agreement signed between Costa Rican union SITRAP and the GMB, formally consolidating years of solidarity.
• Raising funds in response to urgent appeals from our Guatemalan and Costa Rican partners to assist workers and their families affected by severe flooding and earthquakes
• Hosting  trade union activists from Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Ghana to raise awareness on conditions faced by workers and to develop active long term solidarity links
• 10,000 emails sent to the three major fruit companies calling for an end to the discrimination of women workers as part of our Make Fruit Fair campaign. This led to the creation of a working group to tackle gender discrimination within a framework agreement between Chiquita, IUF and COLSIBA (Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana Workers Union).

BECOME A BANANA LINK TRADE UNION SUPPORTER

Download supporter's form.

Download standing order form.

Download or order Union to Union leaflet