Banana Link Project Officer, Holly Woodward-Davey, reports on the work that has been undertaken by our Costa Rican trade union partners thanks to funds donated by UK trade unions.
Costa Rican banana and pineapple workers face some of the world’s most exploitative and difficult working conditions, typified by long working hours, low pay and a backdrop of union hostility, not to mention to prevalence of discrimination and sexual harassment experienced by women workers, who typically still represent only a small fraction of the overwhelmingly male workforce.
Support from UK trade unions
UNISON, Britain’s largest trade union, has been an enduring friend to these workers. Through their International Development Fund, support is provided to trade union movements in the global south to build capacity and represent the interests of local workers. These funds have helped Costa Rica’s Union of Agricultural Plantation Workers – SITRAP (for its Spanish acronym) – to make key advances in their work representing workers employed on the vast banana and pineapple plantations on the Costa Rican Caribbean Coast.
Costa Rica is the biggest supplier of pineapples and the second largest of bananas to the UK market. Production and export of Costa Rica bananas are dominated by Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole, and national company Grupo Acon. The industry directly employs more than 40,000 people.
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