Join the online protest here – https://www.stop-chiquita.ch/en
Chiquita – one of the world’s biggest banana producers, headquartered in Switzerland – promotes “sustainability” and “fair working conditions”. But investigations by Public Eye on supplier plantations in Guatemala paint a very different picture. On the ground, workers toil for up to 12 hours a day under intense time pressure for wages that often fall below the legal minimum. In the sweltering heat, they work without adequate protection from pesticides sprayed from planes overhead.
Many endure these punishing conditions with nothing more than a concoction made of energy drinks and tramadol, an opioid. Anyone who speaks out or attends trade union meetings risks being sacked.
The plantations visited by Public Eye in Guatemala supply Chiquita directly. The company therefore bears responsibility – and has the market power to improve conditions for workers immediately.
You can read more about Public Eye’s findings here – https://www.publiceye.ch/en/media-corner/press-releases/detail/toxic-bananas-chiquitas-plantation-workers-toil-on-a-piecework-basis-for-rock-bottom-wages-and-suffer-from-pesticides
Through this digital protest, we are asking for:
- The legal minimum wage for all plantation workers.
- Protection from pesticides. This includes an immediate ban on aerial pesticide-spraying during working hours.
- Respect for freedom of association. No one should be dismissed or discriminated against for organising in a union.
Chiquita must ensure its local suppliers comply with Guatemala’s legal minimum standards, the conventions of the International Labour Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management. Swiss multinationals must finally take responsibility for abusive conditions in their supply chains.
