Global Compact International Yearbook 2012

Agenda
CSR in Latin America
empower local trade unions at the international level. An IFA
is an accord negotiated between a multinational company
and a sectoral trade union federation with regards to international
activities. Within the banana industry, Chiquita Brands
International was the first – and so far the only – banana
company to sign an IFA with the global union IUF and the
Latin America Federation of Banana Workers Union in June
2001. The agreement, “Freedom of Association, Minimum
Labour Standards and Employment in Latin American Banana
Operations,” involved Chiquita Brands committing to the ILO
conventions regarding freedom of association and collective
bargaining, and also covered other issues such as forced labor,
child labor, non-discrimination, and health and safety. These
ILO conventions are also reflected in certifications and codes
of conduct of major banana companies.
Over the last two decades, several NGOs dealing with the banana
industry have been created in banana-consumer countries to
challenge practices in the producing countries. Some of the
most active NGOs within the international banana industry
are: BananaLink, BanaFair, Euroban, Rainforest Alliance, Ethical
Trade Initiative, and Social Accountability International.
Consumer awareness concerning the ethics of banana production
and trade was raised by cases such as the second
International Tribunal on Water in Amsterdam in 1992,
which condemned Dole Food Company (formerly Standard
Fruit Company) for seriously polluting the Atlantic region of
Costa Rica through its banana operations in the Valle de la
Estrella. There were legal proceedings taken by former workers
against Del Monte, Dole, Chiquita, and agrochemicals firms
from 1965 to 1990 for injuries sustained from direct exposure
to Nemagon, a nematicide. In 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty to
the Justice Department of the United States for making extortion
payments to the AUC paramilitary group in Colombia in
exchange for protecting the lives of workers.
ded in an SRN is that if local trust is built and maintained, it
benefits them because it stabilizes relationships (and therefore
controls production costs), thereby enhancing economic efficiency
and improving the predictability of profits.
Simultaneously, since the 1990s, there has been increased
awareness of and commitments to certification schemes on the
international level. Supermarkets, retailers, and other buyers
increasingly consider certifications as being critical requirements
for bananas and other agricultural products. The benefits as a
result of the SRNs in the banana industry have been mostly in
areas such as health and safety at work, trade union recognition,
protection of biodiversity and water sources, and perception of
safety in the producing regions. Within the areas of health and
safety, the explicit benefits have been a decrease in workplace
accident rates, a reduction of hazards in the workplace, a reduction
in the exposure to pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and
an increase in environmental awareness. Top-down influences
that have affected these positive changes can be traced back to
the demands of consumers put upon retailers and supermarket
chains. Consumers receive real-time information from international
NGOs on the conditions experienced by workers and
the communities where bananas are produced. Some NGOs
and trade unions participate in the design and monitoring of
certification. Top managers at multinational corporations have
progressively adopted objectives linked to corporate citizenship
and have included key performance indicators for social and
environmental functioning of their operations and strategic
planning. Bottom-up initiatives can be traced to the workers.
Workers have organized themselves in the banana industry,
generally within trade unions, which act politically at the domestic
level via community-based organizations, and political
parties, in which workers and their families participate. At the
local level, workers’ activism mobilizes financial, labor, and
political resources in order to focus attention on areas that
affect workers the most. Social foundations, which are financially
supported by banana-producing companies, formulate
their priorities partially based on the key needs identified by
workers and their families, and allocate resources for either
satisfying theses needs or mobilizing resources from national
or international funding agencies.
SRNs in the banana industry have influenced the improvement
in perception of security in a positive way. In regions with histories
of violence, such as Uraba in Colombia, several groups acted
together with local and national authorities toward achieving
a reduction in the violence, and developing a peace-building
process in the region. Specific improvements in security as a
consequence of the SRNs in Colombia were: the increase in
democratic spaces for political participation, with different
actors partaking in political and socioeconomic development
processes within the region; increased levels of negotiations
with government agencies; the intensification of dialogue; and
informed communication with international actors.
The dynamics of interconnecting consumers’ concerns and
workers’ struggles increased the influence that could be exercised
through international civil society, in the sense that
workers’ voices could be echoed in market-driven ethical
practices. The most significant effect it has achieved is the
tacit power it has given to workers on the ground. Workers
and their representatives (trade unions and community-based
organizations) have gained an understanding that the circumstances,
conditions, and needs have become known and heard
internationally by groups of people with demonstrated commitments
based on solidarity and social responsibility. This
has given them not just negotiating power when bargaining
working conditions, but it has also situated them in an international
network, opening up new fields of activities and
strategies of influence. This bottom-up phenomenon – which
is based on acquired knowledge in international politics and
business, and access to international social networks – serves
the purpose of connecting workers and local communities to
markets and international communities.
Several consumer and activist groups have been created in
the agricultural trade area. Fairtrade and organic production
are encouraging the exercise of politics by consumers. Consumer
actions in importing markets have a potential impact
to address trade relations at the policy level. This would at
least allow for the survival of developing countries within the
competitive international market.
Within the banana industry, SRN initiatives vary according to
the motivations and capacities of different actors. For instance,
at the local level in the banana industry, there are initiatives
planned and implemented by banana-producing companies
(mostly multinational companies) aimed at building trust
with workers, local communities, and national governments.
When local CSR efforts are connected to a wider set of domestic
stakeholders, then they can be conceptualized as part of an
SRN. The rationale for a banana company to become embed-
Prof. Dr. Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-
Perez is Full Professor, Head of
Department of International Business,
and Coordinator of the research
group on International Studies at the
Universidad EAFIT in Colombia. She
is part of the network of the virtual
institute of UNCTAD, member of the
Global Compact Network in Colombia,
and she is also a research associate at
the Centre of Innovation & Structural
Change (CISC) in Ireland. Prof. Dr.
Gonzalez-Perez holds a PhD from the
National University of Ireland, Galway.
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