The Irish-based banana company Fyffes has been accused of
having “no respect” for workers’ rights, amid allegations that staff on Central
American fruit plantations are being mistreated.
GMB’s international
officer Bert Schouwenburg, said: “Fyffes is an appalling employer that cares
nothing for its workers who toil in boiling heat to produce the fruit that
makes the company’s profit. They have no respect for domestic or international
law governing workers’ rights and must be brought to book.”
The GMB trade union called for Fyffes to be thrown out of
the Ethical Trade Initiative, which promotes labour rights, over reports of
abuses by subsidiaries in Costa Rica and Honduras. In one case, 14 workers on a
melon plantation, which is 60%-owned by Fyffes’ subsidiary Suragroh were
allegedly hospitalised after being poisoned by noxious chemicals. The GMB said
the female workers had not been given safety gear to protect them while
handling fruit.
It said workers had
also reported that they were not being paid the minimum wage, were denied extra
pay for overtime and Sundays and were not given public holidays. Workers were
also illegally charged for transport to the fields where they work. When they
tried to form a trade union branch in January 2016, the GMB said, four members
were abducted, threatened and held for 24 hours until they renounced
membership.
In Costa Rica, Fyffes’ Anexco pineapple subsidiary was
accused of running “a purge” of union members
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