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Banana Workers In Ecuador Strike To Fight "Race To The Bottom"Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights
In this alert:
[ Information in this Labor Alert provided by US/LEAP, www.usleap.org; Coalition of Immokalee Workers, www.ciw-online.org; and the Mexico Solidarity Network, www.mexicosolidarity.org ]
BANANA WORKERS STRIKE TO FIGHT THE RACE TO THE BOTTOMBanana workers in the world's top exporting country went on strike last week in the first major union drive in Ecuador in 20 years. The struggle 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. On 25 February, more than 1,400 workers at seven plantations producing for the Noboa Corporation in Ecuador went on strike to call for their basic labor rights. These rights are established under Ecuadorian law and include overtime pay, health care benefits and centers, and a decent salary. The workers are also demanding the recognition of a new union they have formed called the General Union of Plantation Workers of Haciendas Yanayacu 1 & 2, Rey Rancho 1 & 2, La Nueva, Zapotal, & La Teresa. Management responded to the strike action by firing eight union leaders. On advice of counsel, workers went back to work since their wildcat strike was technically illegal. Union supporters subsequently began signing up hundreds of members and filed an application for legal registration of the union. In the first week, 500 workers signed up for the union. The company is now under an injunction that would make any further firings illegal and make any new strike legal. The union has prepared a list of demands for negotiations with management, with meetings scheduled this week. According to the union, the fincas are divided into seven separate businesses that rotate workers from one to another in order to avoid legal obligations and benefits enjoyed by permanent workers. The union believes that the plantations are secretly owned by Noboa and are requesting that the company and government divulge the true ownership of the plantations. Regardless of who actually owns the plantations, they produce bananas for Noboa. The owner of the Noboa Corporation is Alvaro Noboa Ponton, candidate for the Presidency of Ecuador. Noboa is the fourth biggest banana company in the world (after Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte) and owns the Bonita brand. The union has also submitted to the Labor Minister an application for legal registration of the union. Assuming the Labor Minister approves the registration of the new union, this will be the first independent banana workers' union since the 1970s.
TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT BANANA WORKERSCheck out the three suggested actions below:
1) Contact Noboa.Write the owner of the Noboa Corporation, Alvaro Noboa Ponton. Urge the Noboa company to ensure that these plantations, whether they are directly owned by Noboa or not, (a) comply with Ecuadorian law concerning worker rights, (b) recognize the union, and (c) negotiate the union's demands in good faith. ~ Fax a letter to Noboa in Ecuador at 011-593-42-444-093. Or you can send an email to FENACLE, a banana union support organization in Ecuador, at fenacle@easy.pacifictel,net. They will forward the letter to the company.
2) Contact the Ecuadorian government.Urge the Labor Minister 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 and to respond to the union's request that the true owner of the plantations be officially identified. ~ 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.
3) Grassroots Research Project.
E-mail: clr@clrlabor.org 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? My name: You can contact me with questions at:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION(provided by US/LEAP) 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. Ecuador's Role in the Crisis: 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!
TACO BELL TRUTH TOUR CARAVAN IS UNDERWAY-- see the schedule of events below to find out how you can get involved. The Coalition of Immokalee workers is a community-based worker organization located in Immokalee, Florida. Members are largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout Southwest Florida, which is the state's most important center for agricultural production. Immokalee is the state's largest farmworker community. The majority of CIW members are farmworkers who spend 8-9 months of the year in Southwest Florida, then travel north for work during the summer months. In April of 2001, CIW called a national boycott of Taco Bell to win higher wages for tomato pickers in central Florida, who make about $7,500 per year. Taco Bell is one of the largest consumers of tomatoes from the region, and an increase of one cent per pound in the price Taco Bell pays for tomatoes would double the workers' salaries. In a cross-country caravan from Immokalee, FL, to Taco Bell's global headquarters in Irvine, CA, farmworkers and student and community allies will hit 15 major US cities between March 1 and 17 with the TRUTH about how the fast food giant profits from farmworker poverty. You are invited to be part of this historic caravan! You can join the Immokalee workers at any point along the way, or you could come for an exciting two days of action at the national convergence in Los Angeles/Irvine, CA, on March 10 and 11 as we march on Taco Bell! Email tbtruthtour@aol.com or check out the CIW web site (www.ciw-online.org) to receive more information on how you can participate in this long anticipated event. And be sure to ask for all the latest boycott organizing materials -- media packets, flyers, posters, t-shirts, bumper stickers and more -- so that you can help spread the word of the boycott in your community!
TRUTH TOUR STOP INFORMATION Salt Lake City, UT - March 7 San Francisco: the California leg begins - Friday, March 8 Fresno - Saturday, March 9 **RISE UP 2002: IRVINE - Monday, March 11 Flagstaff, AZ - Tuesday, March 12 Albuquerque, NM - Wednesday, March 13 Oklahoma City, OK - Thursday, March 14 Little Rock, TN - Friday, March 15 Memphis, TN - Saturday, March 16 Immokalee, FL - Sunday, March 17 |
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