The Syndicate of Agricultural Plantation Workers (Sitrap), a member of the Patria Justa Trade Union Collective, spoke about the negative repercussions that the Costa Rican producers of banana and pineapple that ignore the most elementary environmental standards, or that don't comply with the most fundamental tenets of the Decent Work policy advocated by the International Labor Organization (ILO), can have in the European markets. In Costa Rica, the decent work policies are already a State policy.
This type of producer would be regarded as a disgrace by the international bodies who verify that agricultural plantations comply with employment, environmental, and work conditions: i.e. the certifiers.
According to Sitrap, one of the main national business groups producing these coveted fruits, which are very demanded by the consumers of the European Union (EU), has suffered a momentary suspension of the good productive behavior certification extended by a prestigious institution in the European markets, the Rainforest Alliance.
The group of corporate entrepreneurs affected by this momentary decertification is the Acon Group, which the Sitrap union says has anti-union policies. As a result, the supermarkets in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Stockholm, Helsinki, for example, would not sell the tropical fruits, such as bananas, produced on plantations of the Acon group. Furthermore, the consumers from those cities would be told not to buy them because the workers who work in the plantations of the Acon group would have labour and trade union right problems. Moreover, these tropical fruits would not be exhibited in the supermarkets, as the owners of supermarkets would not risk buying them without the Rainforest Alliance certification seal.
A product, such as banana or pineapple, that carries the Rainforest seal may be placed in different supermarkets and consumption stores. The certificate seeks to give an advantage to the product, but above all, the certification should be credible, certain or probable.
Rainforest Alliance decertified the banana and pineapple produced in plantations of the Acon group because the Sitrap has accused them of discriminating and persecuting unionized workers and their families.
The Acon group must correct the negative findings revealed by the most recent audit of Rainforest Alliance in labour and trade union rights, at the latest by June 30, 2017.
However, it's only in May 2018 that a new audit might recommend they be reinstated the good productive behavior seal. Sitrap has made its position in this regard very well known, validating the mechanism of Social dialogue so that the problem can be solved in a bipartisan way. We hope for this to be so.
Source: laprensalibre.cr