After more than 40 years of what one industry representative called a ‘war against trade unions’, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security, with the support of the ILO, has initiated regular dialogue with the trade unions.
In bilateral meetings with the Ministry and in the new Ministry-led tripartite dialogue forum, they are beginning to address issues of concern to workers in the country’s banana industry, namely:
- Health and safety at work
- Strengthening negotiation and communication mechanisms
- Freedom of association
- Compliance with labour regulations
- Use of conciliation mechanisms
The business sector is considering discussions on living wages and fair prices.
In December 2025, senior representatives of the UK’s largest trade union, UNISON, witneesed this dialogue in a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Labour, Banana Link and the two most representative trade unions in the Costa Rican tropical fruit sector, SITRAP and ANEP.
Social dialogue roundtable
More than a year ago, following talks held in Europe within the framework of the World Banana Forum and the Fruit Attraction Fair, the Ministry convened a tripartite dialogue table for the banana sector, with the support of the ILO sub-regional office. According to the Ministry:
“The forum is aimed at reviewing and analysing issues relating to labour relations in the banana sector, with the aim of gathering relevant information, identifying areas for improvement, as well as putting forward proposals and reaching agreements on priority aspects of socio-labour development at national or regional level that have an impact on workers and companies in this industry.”
However, after four meetings of the Roundtable, SITRAP and ANEP wrote to the Ministry in September stating that not only has progress been very limited, but that trade union rights, health and safety at work, illegal working hours, and other key issues are actually worsening at the workplaces of several major companies. The two unions called on the government to intervene and ensure that fruit companies themselves join the Roundtable: up until now, they have been at arms-length, represented by the national producers’ association CORBANA and the chambers. On the trade union side, it also seems necessary to have a mechanism that defines their participation on the basis of their actual representativeness in the workplace. As pointed out by UNISON colleagues, the principle of success for dialogue table is that the actors at the table are the ones able to implement change.
Despite these difficulties, Deputy Minister Alexander Astorga has announced a training programme for banana company foremen for the coming year, in the hope that this programme will help to generate greater awareness on the part of middle management and, will reduce instances of discriminatory treatment of unionised workers.
However, unions such as SITRAP consider the barriers to freedom of association in Costa Rica, rather than a lack of training of middle-management, to be the result of deeply-rooted historical issues – specifically the institutionalised policy of undermining the development of independent trade unions while promoting parallel structures financed and controlled by the employer sector.
The Deputy Minister also highlighted a threefold increase in the number of labour inspections in the sector, with a significant investment of resources.
“Voices in the desert”
After the near elimination of banana unions in the 1980s following a coordinated campaign, the organisations have redefined themselves in the face of daily persecution. Long feeling themselves to be “voices in the desert”, their renewed strategy means that today, they represent over 3,500 men and women working in the Costa Rican tropical fruit industry. In 2025, the banana sector has increasingly consolidated trade union representation.
Alistair Smith, international coordinator of Banana Link, comments:
“Even if it is too early to say that there has been a real change of direction for workers, it is possible to say that the efforts of the Ministry of Labour, the impact of new due diligence legislation in various parts of the world, and the failure of efforts to undermine independent trade unions in the sector are contributing towards be an increasingly visible light at the end of the tunnel.”
