Endless negotiation in PepsiCo's Honduran bottler

More than four years since negotiations for a new collective agreement with Embotelladora La Reyna (CBC- PepsiCo) began, the Union of Workers of the Beverage and Similar Industry (Stibys) has reached a tripartite agreement (union/employer/Ministry of Labour) that paves the way for the resumption of mediation that was suspended several months ago as a result of the pandemic.

"We met with the company and the Minister of Labor on September 23, 2020 and finally agreed to resume the mediation process as of October 8"; explained Fernando Espinales, vice president of Stibys in an interview with the IUF Latin American region.

The union strongly believes that this represents a critical first step if meaningful negotiations are to finally begin.

Espinales added, "It has been more than four years since workers received any salary increases. We have also seen outsourcing growing, both in the production and sales areas and in the distribution centers nationwide. This worries us a lot and we need to advance in the discussion and resolution of these problems".

You can read the original news in Spanish here.