SEPTEMBER 1996 · VOLUME 17 · NUMBER 9

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L A B O R

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IRISH FRUIT MULTINATIONAL FYFFES LTD, which prides itself on a reputation for ethical trading, has become embroiled in a union recognition dispute in Belize which could tarnish its image and disrupt its business.

The controversy follows Fyffes' firing of leaders of the independent United Banners Banana Workers' Union (UBBWU) and the deportation of workers involved in a 1995 strike.

Initially centered on three farms operated by the company in Cowpen, in southeastern Belize, the dispute has since broadened with the involvement of the country's industry-wide Banana Growers' Association (BGA) and Trade Union Congress.

Fyffes, the fifth largest banana producer in the world and Europe's biggest single distributor of fresh produce, has had a presence in Belize since the 1970s. Today, along with its farms in Cowpen, the company holds a stake in the country's main shipping facility; and it purchases all the bananas produced by BGA growers and controls all foreign marketing of Belizean bananas. The bulk of the Fyffes-controlled Belizean banana exports goes to the European Union, under a preferential quota system for former European colonies.

Once wholly reliant on local labor, the Belizean banana industry switched to migrant workers, from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, after it was privatized in 1985. Privatization also eroded the union presence in the industry.

In May 1995, workers in the Cowpen region bucked the deunionization trend and established the UBBWU. Marciana Funez, a native Belizean was chosen as president. Previously a small trader in Cowpen, Funez attributes her involvement to a sense of revulsion at the workers' conditions.

Workers on Fyffes farms, she explains, had no access to medical care, were too impoverished to purchase meat or fish and drew water from a source contaminated by pesticide sprays from the farms. Eye and skin diseases were quite common, she says.

Initially, two growers in the area "opened their doors to the union," Funez says. But then, Funez claims, "Fyffes intimidated them" into reversing their position.

Under Belizean law, a union must prove it has the support of 51 percent of a workforce to gain recognition. Normally, a list of union members is presented to the country's Labor Commission, which compares it to a company payroll list. Shortly after the UBBWU's formation, Funez claims to have met with a Labor Commission representative in the town of Independence. The representative simply studied the union's membership list and took notes, according to Funez.

Almost immediately thereafter, she says, Fyffes initiated a "purge" by firing 15 union executives on its payroll.

In response, the union struck, closing down the three Fyffes farms and several others in the area.

Three days into the strike, Belizean security forces reportedly rounded up approximately 350 strikers and drove them to the Guatemalan border for immediate deportation. Guatemala only accepted a few of the workers, however, since most of whom were not Guatemalan.

Alleging collusion between Fyffes and the security forces, Funez contends the security forces "wouldn't have come in themselves; that was a labor dispute."

For its part, the company has consistently denied all the allegations levelled at it. Philip Halpenny, a Fyffes executive, insists the union has no support and characterizes the June 1995 strike as "a work disruption created by people who may not have been our workers."

After the strike, the company established solidarismo, a type of company-staff association that does not conform to International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on free association and the right to organize.

Mary Finan, head of Wilson Hartnell, a public relations firm representing Fyffes in the Belize banana controversy, insists that the majority of the workforce has "opted" for solidarismo over UBBWU representation. But Funez says Fyffes has made employment on all of its farms contingent on joining solidarismo, and Belize's Trade Union Congress has officially recognized the UBBWU as "the voice and vanguard of the banana workers."

Religious leaders and human rights activists support the union's version of events. Two months after the strike, the Catholic Bishop of Belize City and Belmopan, the capital, issued an appeal for food, which was to be distributed to fired workers in the Cowpen area. "The banana growers in that area are determined to continue their retaliation against the laborers who participated [in] and supported the strike action," the appeal stated.

Four months later, in December 1995, the Caribbean Human Rights Network wrote to Belizean Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel, seeking his "immediate intervention in the increasing problems of exploitation and fundamental human rights being faced by Belizean banana workers at the hands of banana growers and in particular the local operators of Fyffes Banana International."

The dispute may gain more immediate international attention as a result of a complaint lodged by the Geneva-based International Union of Foodworkers with the ILO. The complaint charges Belize with failing to comply with ILO conventions in connection with the Fyffes-UBBWU controversy. Should the complaint be upheld, it could prove a source of considerable embarrassment for both government and company alike, and could be used against both at an official international level.

A number of Irish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also lent support to the Fyffes' workers' cause. In May 1996, they arranged for Funez to visit Ireland and publicize the banana workers' case.

While in Ireland, Funez met with senior Fyffes management, but nothing was resolved.

Funez claims Fyffes offered during the meeting to address the banana workers' complaints if she refrained from speaking publicly while in Ireland. Funez refused the offer after the company declined to make this commitment in writing. Fyffes claims its representatives merely stated they would be "upset" if Funez repeated the allegations publicly while in Ireland.

The company has made other efforts to protect its image in Ireland from being blemished. Fyffes approached Concern -- an aid organization to which it regularly donates money -- which then publicly disassociated itself from what it termed the NGOs' "banana campaign." However, a second prominent aid organization, Trocaire, concluded that the NGOs' allegations "had substance."

In early June, the UBBWU called for a secret-ballot vote on the three Fyffes' farms in Cowpen, in order to establish if the union enjoyed the requisite 51 percent support of the workforce. The proposal allowed for a set "campaign period" in the run-up to the poll, and for the monitoring of the process by independent observers.

Fyffes rejected the proposal, instead conducting an "attitudinal survey" of its workforce. Union sources claim workers were asked to express their attitude about the UBBWU and to indicate if they were "happy" working for Fyffes. Union supporters fear any anti-union results will be publicized by the company, and note the high likelihood that workers will be fearful of answering such questions truthfully. Fyffes, however, says the survey is "not intended for public use."

Shunting aside the "attitudinal survey," the Belizean labor movement and Irish NGOs have intensified the pressure on Fyffes to agree to a secret ballot.

But the company continues to resist the union's proposal, instead veering from an insistence that the union work through the office of the Labor Commission to advocacy of an industry-wide ballot.

The UBBWU views both of these company alternatives as pure stonewalling. The union has lost faith in the Labor Commission based on prior experience; and since the union has no significant presence outside the Cowpen area, it would likely lose an industry-wide election.

As further evidence of Fyffes' bad faith, union sources report that the company insisted at one point that it would recognize the UBBWU only if the UBBWU were able to obtain 100 percent support in an industry-wide vote. Fyffes has since dropped that precondition.

In early July, Fyffes' Philip Halpenny allegedly offered to allow Trocaire to conduct an election on the Cowpen farms. After the Jesuit Order in the region agreed to work with Trocaire to oversee the balloting, Trocaire officials accepted the offer, according to an informed source. Fyffes, however, then withdrew the offer, according to the source.

Fyffes spokesperson Mary Finan states flatly that the alleged "offer was never made."

Trocaire officials are more circumspect regarding the alleged offer. Asked about the offer by Multinational Monitor, the agency issued a statement explaining that in the course of discussions with Fyffes "it was suggested that the situation in Belize be monitored, and one of Trocaire's church-based partners was offered." The statement did not elaborate further on the poll offer. Trocaire is compiling a comprehensive report on the dispute, expected to be released in September, which will "identify a mutually acceptable way forward for all involved in the issue," according to the statement. The agency does "not wish to make any further comment until this report has been completed," according to the statement.

Should the deadlock continue, the Irish NGOs plan to launch an aggressive public campaign in Ireland. They believe such an initiative could damage the company which, as one source remarks, takes its "good name extremely seriously."