Following our recent report – Panama banana workers to continue strike at Chiquita despite threats – the company announced on Thursday last week (22 May) that it had fired daily workers in the province of Bocas del Toro for what it called an “unjustified abandonment of work” at its banana farms that began late April.
The company has also announced the suspension “until further notice” of its “administrative, planting, packing and export” operations in the province of Bocas del Toro. They claim these measures “respond to a force majeure situation beyond the company’s control”.
Workers in the country’s education, construction and health sectors are also on indefinite strike across the country in response to pension reforms that pave the way for the privatisation of social security, providing financial institutions an opportunity to profit, and a potential reductions in pension pay outs to workers.
The layoff is expected to amount to around 5,000 workers of a total of 6,500 employed by the company in Panama, which claims to have suffered losses of at least $75 million as a result of the strike.
Chiquita controls 90% of Panamanian banana production, which remained the country’s main export, representing 17% of foreign sales worth $324m in the first quarter of 2025.
The strike was declared illegal on 19 May by the Fifth Section Labour Court of Changuinola.
Government intervention but strike continues
The Panamanian Government announced yesterday (26 May) that it will present a reform to Law 45 this week, which regulates pensions and retirement benefits for banana workers.
Government ministers Julio Moltó (Commerce and Industry) and Jackeline Muñoz (Labour and Labour Development) met with SITRAIBANA leadership on 22 May to approve government proposals for improvements to the banana sector’s pension law, Law 45.
Interviewed by national media, Francisco Smith, secretary general of SITRAIBANA, confirmed having reached an agreement with the government on a series of modifications to Law 45, which would guarantee and improve the benefits already included in the original text.
“Law 45 is a victory for banana workers and was violated by the reform of Law 51 and now by Law 462. Today we agreed that a bill will be submitted to the Cabinet Council and the National Assembly to reform Law 45 and make improvements,” he said.
“Then,” the banana leader continued, “we’ll wait for the Assembly to approve it. In the meantime, the protest continues, and we remain on an indefinite strike.“
Sources: prensa.com, bbc.com, reuters.com, aljazeera.com, rel-uita.org
