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COLSIBA

Home » Trade Unions » COLSIBA

Coordinating Unions in Latin America

COLSIBA, the Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agro-industrial Unions, was founded in 1993. It functions at a regional level in all countries that produce and market bananas, pineapples and sugar. It has members in:

  • Peru
  • Ecuador
  • Colombia
  • Panama
  • Costa Rica
  • Nicaragua
  • Honduras
  • Guatemala
  • El Salvador

Due to its coordinating nature, COLSIBA adopts a structure that is horizontal and operational; a coordinating committee of two representatives (one man and one woman) of each member organization plus a political committee, a women’s committee, an occupational health and safety committee and a coordinator and sub-coordinator. The largest event is the COLSIBA bi-annual conference.

Background

COLSIBA fights to preserve and be an advocate for the respect of labour, union and human rights, and specifically issues for women workers. It provides a space for meetings and coordination between unions from each country in the region. The union affiliates work collectively to better manage information on the world banana market and to strengthen ties with fraternal organizations and institutions that support different regional initiatives such as campaigns and protests and generate a space for dialogue and analysis to tackle the labour issues within the Latin American banana and agricultural industry.

COLSIBA seek to improve freedom of association and collective bargaining, in accordance with the rules and agreements of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The formation of trade union organizations in many banana plantations, tropical fruit plantations and sugar cane plantations still is an ongoing struggle – trade union activity is still repressed, and sometimes threatens the personal safety of those who do practise it.

Despite great efforts to resolve the labour problems in the agricultural regions, more support is needed in the face of the enormity of existing problems.

Colsiba resources

Iris Munguia, Coordinator, COLSIBA (the Regional Coordination of Latin American Banana & Agro-Industrial Workers’ Unions) talks to Banana Link about the importance of international support to the mainly women workers facing labour rights violations at subsidiaries of Fyffes in Honduras.

In this interview, trade union activist Iris Munguia describes how lack of respect for workers’ labour rights is widespread in Latin America, especially where there are no unions. Abuses include long working hours, low wages, discrimination and sexual harassment.

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