Panama: SITRAIBANA and Chiquita continue their negotiations

In April 2013, the Union of Labourers of the Banana Industry and Agricultural Associations (SITRAIBANA) and Chiquita opened the negotiations for a new Collective Agreement. Fourteen months later, after the signing of 62 of the 129 clauses, the Union alerted the U.S. transnational about its intention to implement labour practices that jeopardise the health and dignity of workers.

Since 2005, Bocas Fruit Company (Chiquita) has been promoting the idea that the banana labourers of Bocas del Toro should be the ones hauling the fruit from the plantations to the packing plants.

This process, which involves carrying between 20 and 25 clusters that weight between 120 and 150 pounds (55-70 kilograms) for about two kilometres, has been given different names, such as “integral box”, “manual handling” and now “continuous cluster supply.”

Abel Becker, general secretary of SITRAIBANA, said that regardless of the name you give this, it is still a new attempt by the company to implement forced labour practices that denigrate human dignity and threaten the health of workers.

“In about fifteen or twenty years, a great number of workers could suffer back pain, arthritis, varicose veins, sciatica or impingement syndrome, among others. We cannot allow it!” said Becker.

It is also worth remembering that 95% of Chiquita’s labourers in Bocas del Toro Chiquita belong to indigenous peoples.

“We have fought all this time against the company’s enslaving plans that violate the Panamanian labour code and Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.

With its intransigence, the transnational is putting the collective bargaining at serious risk, because we cannot accept to see men being used to replace machines and turned into slaves in the 21st century,” warned Becker.

For him, it is urgent for the North American transnational to reconsider its position on the matter.

“We’re asking the company to reopen the negotiations, as the last thing we want is for conflict and chaos to ensue. However, if Chiquita insists on its attitude against labourers, we are ready to defend our rights,” concluded Becker.