We successfully argued that Fyffes had breached the Base Code of the UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers’ rights around the globe.

Global fruit trader and producer, Fyffes, had their membership of the Ethical Trading Initiative terminated in March because of their failure to adequately address rights violations at their subsidiaries in Honduras, following a Banana Link and IUF complaint. We continue to campaign for Freedom & Fairness for Fyffes Workers.

With solidarity from the GMB, our Peruvian partners, SITAG, secured the reinstatement of five union executive members unfairly dismissed from their jobs, and they continue to advocate for reform of the labour law, which exempts agricultural business from some worker protections.

In Guatemala, with funding from TUC Aid, SITRABI has trained fifty workers in the South, to be able to form a new union where trade union repression is violent and entrenched. SITRABI is also negotiating a framework agreement on worker’s rights and sustainability with AgroAmerica, one of the largest regional producers, which would be only the second such agreement in the banana sector.

In Costa Rica, SITRAP was able to hold a women members workshop to coincide with International Women’s Day to discuss issues of health and safety facing women in the workplace, while in Ecuador, the newly registered SINUTRABE union, was able to hold its first workshop for women representatives, in a country where women represent only 5% of this workforce because they are viewed as ‘high cost, high risk’ employees.

A Banana Link coordinated Banana Occupational Health and Safety Initiative (BOHESI) training manual, including specific guidance on gender in occupational health and safety, is to form the basis of a training programme, delivered in partnership with the national industry body, which will reach over 4000 plantation workers in Ghana.