Bananas: Unpeeling the Banana Trade - The Fairtrade Foundation

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4.The producers continuedFor a period in the 1970s and early 1980s, it was indeedthe case that banana plantation jobs in many countrieswere seen as the best agricultural work. It was a sourceof pride to work in a plantation. Wages wereconsiderably higher than typical agricultural wages, andmany workers were covered by the benefits negotiated bythe independent trade unions they had struggled to formover previous decades. Today however, the situation isquite different as a result of the never-ending downwardpressure to cut prices and production costs all along thesupply chain. 20The effect on plantation workers in Latin America of thedrive to cut labour costs and increase productivity hasbeen dramatic and manifold: increasingly casualisedworking relationships; long hours and low wages;anti-trade union activity; intensive use of agrochemicals;poor health and safety standards; and lack of access toproper healthcare. These are described in more detailbelow. In Africa, where costs are lower, the medium- andlarge-scale plantations in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire andGhana tend to employ more workers per hectare than inLatin America and working conditions are not quite soharsh (although invariably they don’t receive a living wage):in general, working days are not as long and, becausefewer chemicals are applied for climatic reasons, workersare less exposed to pesticides. 214.3 Wages and working conditionsRather than increasing, banana workers’ wages haveactually fallen dramatically over the past 15 years. Themajority of banana plantation workers do not earn enoughto provide for their families – some still earn less than £1per day. 22 An eight-hour working day in Costa Rica in1993 would earn a monthly wage of $250. Four yearslater the equivalent was just $187, and by 2003 theminimum agricultural wage remained the same in dollars,while the cost of living had nearly doubled. 23 A studycommissioned by The Co-operative Group in 2004concluded that Costa Rican workers considered a basic‘living wage’ would be at least 50% higher than thetypical wage prevailing in plantations. 24 In Ecuador, thegovernment’s own figures show that the minimumagricultural wage of $160 a month (which is more thanmany workers receive) only buys about a third of the basichousehold food basket.There has also been a downward trend in the numberof permanent contracts available for workers and theincreasing use of casual labour and contractors. Thisprocess of hiring workers through other companies or ona short-term basis enables plantation owners to avoidresponsibility for workers rights. It also often preventsworkers from claiming their statutory employmentbenefits, or from joining a union, as in Ecuador. 25The situation for women workers, who are mainlyemployed in the packing-houses, is of particular concernin many producing countries. Many banana companies donot respect basic rights such as maternity leave andregular healthcare and there are no childcare facilities onthe plantations. 26 In fact employers have been employingfewer and fewer women so as to avoid theseresponsibilities. In addition, women are working in aculture that has not historically challenged sexualharassment in the workplace. 274.4 Trade union powerJoining and forming independent trade unions in order tofight for improved conditions is one of the most importantways that workers can secure their rights. While all thebanana exporting countries in Latin America have ratifiedthe main conventions of the International LabourOrganisation (ILO), including the freedom to join a union,these conventions are often not enforced on the ground.The regional coordinating body of banana workers’unions, COLSIBA, estimates that only about 10% of LatinAmerican workers are union members. Of these, wellover half have been able to negotiate collective bargainingagreements – labour contracts that outline the agreedoutcomes of collective bargaining negotiations on payand working conditions – with their employers.An ILO study of banana plantations in Costa Ricaconcluded that ‘trade union organisations are persecutedand repressed. Dismissed for their trade union activities,workers are placed on blacklists that circulate among theplantation owners. They will never find work again.’A more recent ILO report confirms that this situationpersists. 2820Gilberth Bermudez. ‘Working Conditions in Latin American Banana Plantations.’ IBC II. 2005.21Communication from Banana Link.22‘News from the Banana Front.’ Issue 11. Banana Link. January 2007.23Ibid 17.24‘The Real Wage Situation of Male and Female Workers in 11 Banana Plantations in Costa Rica, in Comparison to a Living Wage”, ASEPROLA, November 2004.25ITUC Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights 2008.26Preparatory documents for IBC II. 2005.27Ibid 13.28Report of ILO Mission to Costa Rica. 2007.page 8 Unpeeling the banana trade
Since the 1990s, Latin American banana companieshave increasingly relied on cheap migrant labour as a wayof bringing down labour costs. In Belize, owners haverecruited a largely migrant workforce from neighbouringcountries and use the threat of deportation wheneverworkers have tried to organise themselves to secureimprovements.In other countries, Colombia and Guatemala for example,the situation is even more serious with reports that tradeunion members and leaders have been systematicallymurdered by private security forces, paramilitaries orguerrilla groups as a means of deterring others frombecoming involved in union activities. 29Fairtrade standards aim to go further thanthe norms of ethical assurance and ourfocus on promoting sustainabledevelopment means that we make adifference by changing situations ratherthan simply certifying a status quo. Ourstandards endorse worker organisationthrough democratic and independenttrade unions as the best way of protectinglabour rights, and collective bargaining asthe best process for agreeing employmentconditions.laws are routinely violated. Indeed employers not onlyignore this legislation, but sometimes discipline workerswho fail to continue working during aerial spraying. Sincethe living quarters of workers (and their families) are ofteninside or adjacent to the plantations, their homes aresprayed and they consume chemical-coated plants fromtheir gardens, and drink or wash with contaminated water.Toxic chemical residues also abound in the soil, waterand sediment in areas adjacent to the plantations. Theintensive production of bananas places huge demandson the water courses and careless storage of chemicalsleads to regular pollution incidents, with drasticconsequences for aquatic life. Polluted water used inthe packing sheds to wash bananas is sometimes alsorecycled for use by workers and their families living on theplantations.The health impacts of this cocktail of pesticides includedepression, respiratory problems, damage to the eyes,skin infections, sterility and cancers. Women can eithermiscarry or give birth to children with birth defects. 30A study by the Health Research Institute at the NationalUniversity of Costa Rica found that women in thecountry’s banana packing plants suffered double theaverage rate of leukaemia and birth defects. 31 There areunlikely to be medical staff on the plantation and thedoctors who do treat workers are often employed by thecompanies and are therefore unwilling to identify exposureto chemicals or industrial injuries.4.5 Workers’ health and environmentBananas are susceptible to a host of diseases particularlyin monoculture production models such as plantations.As a result, banana farms have increasingly relied on theuse of pesticides and fungicides to produce the ‘perfect’fruit that buyers demand. These chemicals have had aseverely harmful effect on workers’ health and can causesignificant environmental damage when used intensivelyor improperly applied.Chemicals are both aerially sprayed and appliedmanually. It is estimated that a high proportion ofpesticides sprayed onto crops from planes fail to land onthe plants themselves, instead falling onto the soil andinto waterways, affecting workers on the plantations, andin their nearby homes. Some countries, including CostaRica, have passed legislation stating that workers shouldnot be in the fields when spraying takes place, but these29Information from Banana Link.30Yamileth Astorga. ‘The environmental impact of the banana industry.’ IBC II. 2005.31“Daño del ADN en trabajadoras bananeras expuestas a plaguicidas en Limón, Costa Rica”, Vanessa Ramírez and Patricia Cuenca,Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud (INISA). Universidad de Costa Rica. 2002.page 9 Unpeeling the banana trade
Page 1 and 2: Unpeeling the banana tradeA Fairtra
Page 3 and 4: Executive summaryThe banana: cheap,
Page 5 and 6: In response to growing consumer dem
Page 7 and 8: Banana wars: a timeline1992 Formati
Page 9: Higher shipping, distribution and l
Page 13 and 14: 5.2 EmpowermentEmpowerment is at th
Page 15 and 16: 6.Going furtherThere is no doubt th
Page 17 and 18: 8.Fairtrade: Tipping the BalanceAlt
Page 20: Fairtrade Foundation3rd Floor, Ibex

Bananas: Unpeeling the Banana Trade - The Fairtrade Foundation

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