Ecuador's Banana Workers Strike Against Race to the Bottom

Posted to the IUF website 22-Mar-2002

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More than 1,400 workers at seven plantations producing for the Noboa Company in Ecuador went on strike on February 25 to back their call for basic rights including overtime pay, health care benefits and centers, decent wages and the right to a union, specifically to be part of FENACLE, the national union federation seeking to organize banana workers. The Noboa Company, which owns the Bonita brand, is the world's fourth largest banana company after Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte.

The IUF immediately wrote the Ecuadorian Labour Minister to demand that these workers be guaranteed their rights under ILO Conventions and Ecuadorian law. We have now learned that one hundred and twenty banana workers have been fired and 300 workers who had been employed on these plantations have not been called back to work. Management claims that there are no shipments to process and that the workers are not needed.

Since the work stoppage, a police force has been present on the plantation. Reports indicate that neither the Labor Minister nor the Interior Minister ordered the deployment of police to the plantations.

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

This new anti-union activity places a renewed responsibility on the Noboa company and especially on company owner Alvaro Noboa Ponton - who is expected to run for president of Ecuador in the next election � to show respect for and compliance with internationally recognized worker rights.

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. If the new union is registered, this will be the first independent banana workers' union to be recognized in Ecuador in nearly three decades.

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

Less than 1 percent of Ecuador�s banana workers belong to unions. Wages for Ecuadorian banana workers are considerably lower than those of unionized banana workers elsewhere, and the social benefits that banana unions have won for their members through long struggles � including health care, housing, electricity, potable water, education for their children � are almost entirely absent in Ecuador�s banana sector. Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter with around one-third of global exports, is leading the global race to the bottom, putting pressure on banana workers everywhere as companies respond to competitive pressure by seeking to lower standards.

What you can do

1) Contact the Noboa company. Write the owner of the Noboa Company, Alvaro Noboa Ponton. Urge Noboa to: reinstate the fired workers, comply with Ecuadorian law on union rights, recognize the union, and negotiate the union's demands in good faith. Fax a letter to Noboa in Ecuador at 011-593-42-444-093.

2) Write the Ecuadorian government to 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 of the GeneralUnion of Plantation Workers of Haciendas Yanayacu 1 & 2, Rey Rancho 1 & 2, La Nueva, Zapotal, & La Teresa. Request that the Labor Minister act to facilitate good faith negotiations between the union and the company.

Minister of Labour and Human Resources Ab. Martin Insua Chag Ecuador can be contacted at: Fax: 011-593-2-256-3469 or 011-593-2-250-3122. E-mail to [email protected]

Kindly send copies of any messages to the IUF secretariat. We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.

More information and updates are available on the web site of US/LEAP, an independent US-based NGO that supports economic justice and basic rights for workers in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico.