opinion

Chiquita, offspring of the notorious United Fruit Company, has been awarded high marks by US/LEAP, an organization that supports the basic rights of workers in Central America (www.usleap.org). US/LEAP applauds Chiquita's willingness to deal with workers and their unions. Chiquita's recent agreement to sell its banana plantations in Chiriqui to the PAFCO workers' cooperative can be seen as an example of this respect for workers.

Chiquita may be taking "the high road" as US/LEAP asserts, but the sale in April may also make good business sense in light of world economic conditions characterized by a "race to the bottom." Noboa Corporation of Ecuador, the world's largest exporter of bananas, leads this race to lower production costs by degrading conditions of labor and preventing workers from organizing. Bonita is the brand name of Noboa bananas

The cooperative that bought out the former Chiquita subsidiary Puerto Armuelles Fruit Company (PAFCO) is bound by its purchase of the Chiriqui banana plantations to market its bananas through Chiquita. However, the price the PAFCO workers' co-op gets will depend on market conditions and might well fall below the cost of production.

The race to the bottom is being fuelled not only by union-busting tactics of companies like Naboa, but also by the world-wide domination of retail sales by an ever narrowing group of retailers dominated by Walmart. Retailers maintain their profits by squeezing the producers who maintain their profits by reducing the wages of workers to below subsistence.

Consumers have been asked by US/LEAP not to buy Bonita bananas.


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Saum, The bitter part of bananas
Weisbrot, Top Gun fires blanks
Martínez-Piva, Trade obstacles in the Greater Caribbean
Jackson, Colon's a cool place to be from

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