Campaign for Labor Rights

Banana Workers Fired In Ecuador

Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights

CLR Labor Alert posted March 18, 2002

In this alert:

Banana Workers Fired in Ecuador-Days after strike for union, 120 workers fired!
Banana Workers Strike Against Race to the Bottom
Take Action Now - three suggested actions.
Background Information, including:

[ Information in this Alert provided by US/LEAP, www.usleap.org ]

BANANA WORKERS FIRED IN ECUADOR -- Days after strike for union, 120 workers fired!

120 banana workers have been fired by Ecuador's largest banana exporter, the Noboa Company after participating in a daylong work stoppage on February 25th. This strike was to call for respect for basic labor rights and the recognition of a union. Also since the work stoppage, a police force has been stationed on the plantation. [Though reports indicate that neither the Labor Minister nor the Interior Minister ordered the placement of police on the plantations.]

In response to this anti-union intimidation, 300 banana workers marched in protest in nearby Guayquil on March 12th.

These new anti-union activities place renewed responsibility on the Noboa company and its owner, Alvaro Noboa Ponton - who is expected to run for president of Ecuador in the next election - to demonstrate respect for Ecuadorian law and internationally recognized worker rights. There are over 220,000 banana workers in Ecuador! The Noboa Company is the fourth biggest banana company in the world (after Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte) and owns the Bonita brand.

The union has submitted to the Labor Minister an application for legal registration of the General Union of Plantation Workers of Haciendas Yanayacu 1 & 2, Rey Rancho 1 & 2, La Nueva, Zapotal, & La Teresa. Assuming the Labor Minister approves the registration of the new union, this will be the first independent banana workers' union since the 1970s.

The Labor Minister has sent official inspectors to the banana plantations to report on any worker rights violations, and this office has responded to the banana workers' requests thus far.

BANANA WORKERS STRIKE AGAINST RACE TO THE BOTTOM

More than 1400 workers at seven plantations producing for the Noboa Company in Ecuador went on strike on February 25th to call for their basic labor rights including overtime pay, health care benefits and centers, a decent salary, and the right to a union. The fight of the Ecuadorian banana workers is being watched carefully by banana unions throughout Latin America, whose wages and benefits are threatened by the dominance of non-union, low-wage Ecuadorian banana exports.

TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT BANANA WORKERS!

Suggested Actions:

1) Contact the Noboa Company. Write the owner of the Noboa Company, Alvaro Noboa Ponton. Urge Noboa to (a) reinstate the fired workers, (b) comply with Ecuadorian law concerning worker rights, (c) recognize the union, and (d) negotiate the union's demands in good faith.

~ Fax a letter to Noboa in Ecuador at 011-593-42-444-093, or send it to our office and we will send it for you:1470 Irving Street, NW, Washington, DC 20010, clr@clrlabor.org.

2) Grassroots Research: The new emphasis on Noboa's responsibility to the banana workers fighting for a union means that the grassroots research is more crucial! Noboa's main fruit brand is Bonita. Next time you see BONITA bananas sold in your produce section, fill out the form below and return it to us: clr@clrlabor.org Thanks to those of you who have already helped out with this project! We still need more information to create an affective strategy for this campaign, so please feel free to fill out the form again for another store in your area.

I found Bonita brand! Name of store: City and state of store's address: Date of sighting: Did you find Bonita brand bananas?: Did you find other Bonita brand produce at this store? (list type): Did you have a choice in banana brands? If yes, which other brand(s) was(were) offered? My name: You can contact me with questions at:

3) Contact the Ecuadorian government. Thank the Labor Minister for responding to the banana workers' requests thus far. Ask the Labor Minister to continue to act to protect the basic rights of the workers at the General Union of Plantation Workers of Haciendas Yanayacu 1 & 2, Rey Rancho 1 & 2, La Nueva, Zapotal, & La Teresa. Also ask that the Labor Minister advocate for good faith negotiations with the company.

~ Contact Ab. Martin Insua Chag, Minister of Labor & Human Resources in Ecuador. Fax: 011-593-2-256-3469 or 011-593-2-250-3122; E-mail to mintrab@accessinter.net.

~ Contact the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the U.S., Ivonne A-Baki. The Embassy of Ecuador, 2535 15th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20009. Tel: (202) 234-7200; Fax 202-265-6385; E-Mail: embassy@ecuador.org.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

**Crisis in the Banana Industry Hits Workers Hardest

The crisis in the banana industry, caused by a number of factors including overproduction, has resulted in mass layoffs as production concentrates on low-wage, non-union Ecuador at the expense of countries where workers are unionized and have higher wages and benefits.

**Banana Trade Wars Come to an End

Many may remember the beginnings of a campaign to fight the "first come, first served" (FCFS) proposal to settle the long-standing suit in the World Trade Organization protesting the European Union's preferential import quotas of bananas from countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region. FCFS would have escalated the "race to the bottom" in the banana industry by privileging the companies and countries that have the lowest production costs and, subsequently, little care for worker rights or living standards (primarily Ecuador and those companies with the largest stake in the banana industry there, Dole and Noboa).

Fortunately, FCFS was taken off the table on April 11, 2001 as the EU settled the "banana trade wars" with an agreement to grant banana import quotas per company (instead of per country as was previously done) based on trading in the mid-90's. The new agreement does not directly protect higher wage, more unionized Central American countries and Colombia from Ecuador, but national producers who received import licenses are not likely to abandon their local investments to switch to Ecuador. Likewise, Chiquita is not as free to rush immediately to Ecuador since it owns a high percentage of its plantations in Central America and is much more unionized than Dole, Del Monte, or Noboa.

**Ecuador's Role in the Crisis

The crisis in the banana industry is characterized by the "race to the bottom" with Ecuador leading the way as the largest banana exporter in the world. Noboa, the largest banana exporter in Ecuador, is the fourth largest banana company in the world, following the three U.S. giants, Dole, Chiquita, and Del Monte.

While Ecuador may have an advantage in banana production in terms of numbers, the working conditions, wages, benefits, and freedoms for the right to organize on Ecuadorian banana plantations are some of the worst in the region. Not surprisingly, unlike most of its competitors in the region, Ecuador's banana industry is almost completely un-unionized.

In a study commissioned by US/LEAP in 2000, Ecuadorian workers reported earning an average of US$56 per month. This compares to an average monthly wage of over $500 in Panama, $200 to $300 in Colombia, $200 in Costa Rica, $150 to $200 in Honduras, and $120 to $150 on Guatemala's Atlantic Coast. Subsequent minimum wage increases in Ecuador have only partially narrowed the gap.

Ecuadorian banana workers also have few if any benefits usually provided on most plantations in the region including housing, potable water supply, education for children, and health benefits. Because banana plantations are often not near any cities or towns, these benefits are essential to a decent life for banana workers.

Over the last few years, the low standards in Ecuador have enticed multinational corporations to move production from countries with higher labor costs and respect for worker rights, a trend that only furthers the depression of worker rights standards in the region. For example, Dole announced in November 1999 that it would layoff 9,000 workers and suspend its operations in Nicaragua (where it had been the exclusive buyer from independent producers) and Venezuela. Dole now gets about 30% of its bananas from Ecuador. Del Monte fired virtually its entire workforce in Costa Rica in mid-1999 and then rehired most of the workers, but with substantial pay cuts and loss of benefits. Chiquita began planting the less-labor intensive African Palm on some of its Honduran plantations and then in June 2000 announced it would not rehabilitate other plantations destroyed by Hurricane Mitch, resulting in job loss.

**Fighting the Race to the Bottom: Bananas and Beyond

A loss of banana unions would have an adverse effect on the labor movement in Central America. The hard won and long-standing unions in the banana industry are the backbone of the labor movement in many of the countries in Central America. The banana industry is one of the most highly unionized industries in the private sector. The deterioration of that backbone is a threat to working and living standards throughout the region.

The best way to protect the standards of union plantations in Central America and Colombia is to raise the standards of all the plantations in the region, especially in Ecuador. The struggle to form a union on eight of the Noboa plantations is the beginning of the fight to do just that. Support worker rights and a decent life for all in Central America, Ecuador, and Colombia; support the General Union of Plantation Workers of Haciendas Yanayacu 1 & 2, Rey Rancho 1 & 2, La Nueva, Zapotal, & La Teresa!

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