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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Banana Workers Attacked--Workers Wounded, Women Abused |
Current rating: 0 |
by STITCH
(No verified email address) |
20 May 2002
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At 2:00, the morning of May 16, between 300 and 400 hooded men violently attacked striking banana workers that produce for Naboa in Ecuador. Preliminary reports state that a dozen or more workers were wounded, one seriously due to gunshot, and that women were abused. The workers believe that the attack was orchestrated by management, noting that a Noboa vehicle accompanied the armed attackers. |
Dear Activist:
I am writing for your help again in a very serious situation. You may be aware that Ecuadorian banana workers have unionized for the first time in many years. This is an important development not only for the Ecuadorians but also for the women and men in Central American banana unions, who have seen wages drop and plantations close partly because the banana market has been flooded with cheap bananas from Ecuador that are produced under conditions much worse than those at unionized plantations. You may have seen the Bonita brand at your grocery. Bonita is owned by the Ecuadorian company, Naboa, and workers at plantations producing for Naboa are the ones who have just been attacked.
Please fax or email the two letters below. (If you have time to compose your own individualized letter, that would be even more effective.) If you do not have access to a fax, you can email the letters to me and I will fax them for you. If you are able to, would you please also fax copies of your letters to The Honorable Larry Palmer, Acting Ambassador, U.S. Embassy, Quito, Ecuador. Fax: 011-593-2-254-0712 and email a copy to the campesino group supporting the Noboa workers, FENACLE: fenacle (at) easy.pacifictel.net.
As usual, I have included the letters first for convenience and then followed with the alert from the Campaign for Labor Rights based on information from the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project.
Alvaro Noboa Ponton. Noboa Corporation Fax: 011-593-42-444-093 banoboa (at) bonita.com.
Dear Mr. Noboa:
At 2:00, the morning of May 16, between 300 and 400 hooded men violently attacked striking banana workers that produce for Naboa in Ecuador. Preliminary reports state that a dozen or more workers were wounded, one seriously due to gunshot, and that women were abused.
The workers believe that the attack was orchestrated by management, noting that a Noboa vehicle accompanied the armed attackers.
I ask you to immediately and publicly denounce the violence and to begin negotiating with the workers in good faith.
Sincerely,
NAME: ADDRESS:
Martin Insua Chag Minister of Labor & Human Resources Fax:011-593-2-250-3122.
Dear Minister:
At 2:00, the morning of May 16, between 300 and 400 hooded men violently attacked striking banana workers that produce for Naboa in Ecuador. Preliminary reports state that a dozen or more workers were wounded, one seriously due to gunshot, and that women were abused.
The workers believe that the attack was orchestrated by management, noting that a Noboa vehicle accompanied the armed attackers.
In this extremely urgent situation, I ask that the Government of Ecuador provide sufficient police protection and that police apprehend those responsible for this violent act against Noboa workers exercising their internationally-recognized worker rights.
Sincerely,
NAME: ADDRESS:
ECUADORIAN BANANA WORKERS VIOLENTLY ATTACKED -- WORKERS WOUNDED, WOMEN ABUSED (An Alert from May 15 with another action request and additional information and background follows.)
At 2:00, the morning of May 16, between 300 and 400 hooded men violently attacked striking banana workers in Ecuador who have been organizing for their basic rights and a decent wage. Preliminary reports state that a dozen or more workers were wounded, one seriously due to gunshot, and that women were abused (we aren't sure at this time exactly what "abused" means).
The workers courageously fought back and detained 40 of the attackers until police belatedly arrived. The workers were not moved from the plantations and are continuing their strike, which began on May 9.
The workers believe that the attack was orchestrated by management, noting that a Noboa vehicle accompanied the armed attackers.
Union supporters are concerned that further attacks are possible. The workers were supposed to have been protected by police, but the few police officers present were apparently ineffective. The union is demanding additional police protection and action on their original demands, reinstatement of fired workers and good-faith negotiations.
ECUADORIAN BANANA WORKERS BACK ON STRIKE - The Fight Against Race to the Bottom in Banana Industry Takes Critical Turn.
In perhaps the most important struggle in the Latin American banana sector in over a decade, Ecuadorian banana workers walked off seven plantations on May 6, 2002 to protest the firing of three union activists. The firings came shortly after the workers achieved a major victory when the Ecuadorian Labor Minister approved legal recognition for three unions representing the workers on these plantations.
Approval of the unions, the first in many years, came immediately after a devastating report of the Ecuadorian banana industry released by Human Rights Watch that found wide-spread violations of worker rights, including extensive anti-union behavior that has effectively blocked the formation of banana unions in Ecuador for the past twenty years (see "HRW Report Released" section below). Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter and its low-wage, no-benefit, non-union industry is driving down the wages and benefits of banana workers throughout Latin America.
The plantations, known as the Alamos plantations, are owned by the Noboa Group, which owns the Bonita brand and is run by one of the richest men in Latin America, Alvaro Noboa Ponton. The workers at the Alamos plantations are demanding that all of their fired co-workers be reinstated, payment for overtime work done, and payment of social security benefits, healthcare, and fair wages.
These recent firings (of three union activists) come just after 124 union supporters were fired after a day-long strike on the Alamos plantations in February to demand the recognition of their union. Instead of negotiating with the unions' demands, the workers faced firings, transfers, and harassment, which led to the current strike. The 124 fired workers still have not been reinstated to their jobs.
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TAKE ACTION NOW - Support Striking Banana Workers!
1) Contact Costco (by phone or fax) Thanks to those of you who reported sighting Bonita bananas in your produce departments! Grassroots research on where Bonita brand bananas are sold has led to a common supplier: Costco, a wholesale retailer. Contact the company about the labor dispute in Ecuador and ask the company to contact Noboa about the need to respect worker rights and to negotiate in good faith with the Alamos workers.
** NOTE: If you are a Costco member, make sure to note that in your letter.
~ Contact: James D. Sinegal, President, CEO, Costco Wholesale Corporation, 999 Lake Dr., Issaquah, WA 98027. Phone: 425-313-8100; Fax: 425-313-8103.
BANANA UNIONS GAIN LEGAL RECOGNITION, ORGANIZING SPREADS
The Ecuadorian Labor Ministry granted legal recognition to three unions, one for each of the contracting companies that manage the Alamos plantations, Cliades, Beducor, and Nenro, on April 26th. The first application for legal recognition was denied in March when filed under the Noboa Company, which is the sole customer of the Alamos plantations and owner of the land. Recognition was denied on the grounds that the workers don't work directly for Noboa. However, when the union applied for recognition under the contracting companies, the legal recognition was granted.
The fight on the Alamos plantations has inspired similar organizing on other plantations in Ecuador. 500 workers went out on strike at another Noboa plantation, Hacienda Julia, on April 1st with the same list of grievances. Reports indicate that the striking workers occupied the roads in front of the home and bank of Alvaro Noboa Ponton. Also, 200 workers from the Danish-owned Rio Culebra plantation walked out in mid-April to demand, among other things, recognition of a union, minimum wage, social security, access to medical treatment, tools, and decent working conditions.
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SOLIDARITY LETTER BOOSTS MORALE
As part of the campaign to support the Noboa workers, an appeal to endorse a letter of support of the banana union in Ecuador received over 76 organizational endorsements from the U.S., Canada, and across Europe in 7 days! The letter boosted the morale of the workers and was published in two local newspapers on April 19th, 2002. Thanks to those of you who signed on to the letter! (A full list of signatories and the text of the letter can be found on the US/LEAP website at www.usleap.org.)
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ATROCITIES IN THE BANANA SECTOR REVEALED
A United Kingdom delegation of trade unionists and worker rights activists organized by Banana Link visited the Alamos banana workers just as the strike began on May 6th.
One delegate reports an interview with a banana worker supporting the strike:
"...one time they sent me to enbanderillar (directing planes with flags) without any protection. When it's fumigation time the plane passes where people are eating and all this liquid reaches the food and consequently the worker. We've said to the boss that this is bad but he doesn't pay any attention to anything the worker says."
"...It may be Alvaro Noboa tells the EU that his workers are well paid, that they have all their legal benefits, that he takes care of their health etc -it's all a big lie. That's the message I want you take from here, from us, the Ecuadorian workers here on this plantation. I want to make it clear that what Alvaro Noboa says is not true. We've been working here on this plantation for many years now. We want justice..."
The delegate also gives reports of the living and working conditions of the Noboa workers:
"The housing is particularly bad - 2m x 2m rooms with two sets of bunk bed, sleeping a total of eight people, are normal. There are no mattresses -workers have improvised with the "Bonita" cardboard boxes not only as bedding but as storage as there is no other furniture. Families also live in these rooms - one "house" I visited had a child asleep on the dirt floor....There were many testimonies regarding ill health, including blindness....There is no medical attention on the farm.... Workers reported cases of sexual harassment at the hands of administrators.... Wages are way below the legal minimum."
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT RELEASED
On April 25th, Human Rights Watch, a non-profit based in New York City that conduct regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses world-wide, released an independent report on human rights violations in Ecuador's banana industry. The report begins with a quote from Martin Insua, Minister of Labor and Human Resources in Ecuador, "[Banana workers] are fired if they try to unionize...There is not a company that would not fire them...Temporary workers are [hired] so as not to have problems with unions."
The report focused on child labor and neglect of the right to organize and has recommendations for better enforcement of local labor laws regarding anti-union discrimination, the employment of children, and access to education for children.
The report can be found online at http://hrw.org/reports/2002/ecuador/<http://hrw.org/reports/2002/ecuador/
Questions and requests for the report should go to Human Rights Watch at 1630 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009 or by phone at 202-612-4321.
Also, the International Union of Foodworkers has a favorable response to the report on their website at http://www.iuf.org.
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See also:
http://www.afgj.org/stitch/
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