We have not abandoned our fight

Abstract

enables them to organise without fear. This can only happen if there is serious and concerted international trade union solidarity, as has been shown in the project of TUC Aid and Unite. SITRABI leader report to British trade unionists Noé Ramirez Portela, General Secretary of the Izabal Banana Workers’ Union of Guatemala (SITRABI) visited the UK from 26 to 28 November 2015. During his visit, Noé met with UK trade unionists, government officials and other stakeholders and spoke at the Latin America 2015 Conference in London on Saturday 28 November. SITRABI is the oldest private sector union in Guatemala and represents over 4000 members in Del Monte and Del Monte supplier farms on the Caribbean coast, and has good relations with other local unions in other multinational and national plantations. Noé was elected General Secretary of SITRABI in 2000, shortly after the union’s Executive Committee was forced at gun-point to resign their posts and call off strike action over contract violations. Speaking to British trade unionists at an event organised by the Bananalink NGO and supported by ASLEF, GMB, TUC Aid, UCU, UNISON and Unite, Noé described the situation for trade union organising: “Guatemala is an extremely violent country. Trying to organise banana workers in this situation is like seeking death. I have been the recipient of death threats and I am currently under police protection. The police themselves are not very trustworthy, they are involved in criminal acts, but I have to accept this. We receive support from three international donors but we need also more help. The Government is unreservedly right wing. Since 2008 we have complained to the labour ministry that companies have been collecting workers subscriptions but have not been transferring them to the union. This complaint was ignored. We have also complained that there were companies that were collecting social security payments from the workers but were failing to transfer them into the social security system. This complaint was also ignored. This led to two complaints, to the Free Trade Agreement and to the ILO. Just a month ago two plantations were closed because the company didn’t want the involvement of the trade union that had been established there. They closed the plantations and took workers’ social security payments. Banana production has been moving from the unionised North to the violent, lawless and unorganised South of the country INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18 Volume 22 Issue 4 2015 JAQUI MACKAY is National Co-ordinator/Director of Bananlink G uatemala is one of the former ‘banana republics’ where the giant United Fruit Company once owned huge tracts of land and called the political tune. The industry has expanded rapidly over the last decade and now one in every three bananas eaten in the USA comes from Guatemala. Most production takes place in the Pacific South with the remainder being grown in the Caribbean coastal plain of Izabal. In Izabal nearly all 5000 - 6000 workers employed by Del Monte (Bandegua), Chiquita and a handful of nationally owned plantations are unionised. By contrast, the Pacific South represents the single biggest ‘black hole’ in the world as far as union and other labour rights are concerned . Some seven percent of the world’s trade bananas are produced by 20,000 - 25,000 workers, most of whom suffer very harsh conditions. The majority of banana plantation and packhouse workers in the Izabal province of North East Guatemala are members of SITRABI, COSISBA or smaller affiliated sister unions. These 5500 or so workers enjoy collective bargaining with their employers: Fresh Del Monte Produce (FDMP) subsidiary, Bandegua, Chiquita subsidiary , Cobigua, and Guatemalan-owned fruit companies under contract to FDMP. Those working for Del Monte in particular enjoy decent wages, terms and conditions after 40 years of gradual improvements achieved through the negotiation of 3 year-long CBAs. Although workers in the other companies earn well above the minimum wage, they have not been able to secure the same level of benefits as their union brothers and sisters employed by the other companies. Nearly 1000 workers in the Izabal banana industry are still unorganised. The unionised workers of the ‘North’ face, however, the very real risk of losing their jobs...