Banana Workers Meet with Multinationals

Leaders of the banana workers’ unions of Latin America and the Standard, United and Fresh Del Monte companies met “informally” on May 3-4 in Miami to discuss their common problem – difficult economic times and low wages. The meeting was brokered by the International Union of Food, Agricultural and Allied Workers (IUF). Nothing concrete has been announced, but workers organized under the Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Sindicatos de la Industria Bananera (COLSIBA) consider the meeting itself to be a positive sign.

With these positive talks as a backdrop, the Fresh Del Monte Company reopened high-level discussions in Miami with the SITRABI union that represents its workers in Guatemala. SITRABI is the largest and oldest private sector union in Guatemala, but its leaders have been run off the land and almost 1,000 of its members have lost their jobs through an action that allegedly involves the Fresh Del Monte local management and its plantation contractors. In mid March, the company signed an agreement—also brokered by the IUF—to reinstate the workers and resume relations with the union. However, nothing had been done to implement the agreement, making it necessary to hold the new set of talks. The top officers of the SITRABI union remain hidden under police custody after receiving death threats against their families. Social and union activists in Europe and the United States who suspended demonstrations and boycotts against the company after the March agreement are watching to see if Fresh Del Monte follows through on its promises.

On April 9, Bruce Jay and Jonathan Fried, labor management experts supporting the SITRABI campaign, presented their concerns to the directors and top management of Fresh Del Monte during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Coral Gables, Florida. Company Chairman Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh took the criticism in a positive spirit and engaged Jay and Fried in a lively but respectful debate during the meeting. Although in its literature Fresh Del Monte denies responsibility for the actions in Guatemala, by the company’s actions and the way the incidents were presented it is obvious that attempts are being made to rectify the wrong, without assuming guilt.

Abu-Ghazaleh was clearly upset that his company has been singled out for criticism. He believes that pressures on the industry are causing cost-saving measures that create conflict with unions in all the banana companies. At the stockholders’ meeting, he stated that the real culprit was low-cost “slave labor” production in Ecuador. He suggested that it is in everyone’s interest that the workers of Ecuador be organized and not take aim at multinationals struggling to keep banana operations profitable. Despite Abu-Ghazaleh’s emphasis on the severe economic squeeze affecting the big banana producers, however, as long as these companies cut workers’ salaries and benefits they will continue to strain their relations with consumers.