Call n°282 (from 20 April to 10 June 2005)

ECUADOR - BANANA PLANTATION ON STRIKE

Bananas, the fruit with the highest consumption figures world wide, are crucial to the economies of many countries and corporations. Their production is also vital to millions of labourers who work in difficult and even dangerous conditions. Yet these workers, who receive a ridiculously small proportion of the income generated in this sector, constantly have to battle to ensure that their economic and social rights are respected. For the past few months 132 workers on the María Teresa plantation in El Oro province, Ecuador, have been on strike because wages are under the legal minimum and their social contributions have not been paid. With the support of the organization FENACLE [1], they are also demanding recognition of their right to organize.

In Ecuador the minimum monthly wage in the agricultural sector is theoretically US$143, for eight hours of work per day. But workers on banana plantations earn between $80 and $140 for a 10-12-hour work day. This injustice is even worse in the case of women whose wages are 30-40% lower than those of men. Families are thus forced to live below the breadline [2]. Children are hit hardest by this situation and many have to work from the age of eight to help their parents.

Since the country embarked on the path of labour market flexibility, linked to the structural adjustments under way, workers have been confronted with an additional threat: "placement" agencies have been set up [3] to recruit and manage manpower. This enables employers to get round labour legislation and to avoid having to meet their obligations regarding recruitment and union rights.

WORKERS ON AN UNLIMITED STRIKE

Workers on the María Teresa plantation are fed up. They recently formed a union and have laid collective charges against the placement agency Servicios Agricolas Servitecagro and the previous owners of the plantation, demanding payment of overdue wages and observance of labour legislation. Since 6 December 2004, 132 of them have been on an unlimited strike to defend their rights, their jobs, and the homes of 93 families living on the plantation.

One of the main issues in this conflict is official recognition of the union by the authorities. The Under-secretary for Labour has made this recognition contingent on the workers producing a certificate of membership of the social security system. Yet this requirement is stipulated in neither the constitution nor the labour code, and the workers are unable to obtain these documents from their employers.

The situation is particularly complex today because the authorities have confiscated the plantation and plan to have it auctioned. The workers and their families are clearly in an increasingly critical position. Despite support received since the beginning of the conflict, food shortages have worsened and threaten to affect the children first.

OPPOSITION TO A LEVELLING DOWN

Because Ecuador is the world’s leading banana exporter, the stakes in this sector are very high.

In recent years the country opted for a levelling down of social rights to promote export - to the extent that this social dumping has had considerable repercussions in other Latin American countries.

It is therefore the whole economic approach that workers on the María Teresa plantation are challenging.

INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS

The FIAN network, with which we are working on this Call and which is relaying this campaign in other countries (cf. opposite), has highlighted the Ecuadorian state’s international commitments as regards economic and social rights.

In terms of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESC), and as noted on 7 June 2004 by the UN Committee responsible for monitoring the application of this covenant, the government has to ensure that the minimum wage enables workers and their families to live decently, and that it is applied to everyone.

The ILC Convention 87 and Article 8 of the ICESC stipulate that governments also have to ensure that workers, including those who have temporary labour contracts, are able to put their right to organize into practice.

In cooperation with Euroban (the European Banana Network), Peuples Solidaires has produced educational tools on the international banana trade (books, folders, booklets for the 8-12 age-group, games, etc.). Contact us for further information.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

FIAN - Foodfirst Information and Action Network - is an international NGO working to ensure application of the right to food, a human right recognized by international law and by over 150 countries.

In reality this right is a dead letter for many people, especially vulnerable groups: women, children, small farmers, indigenous communities, etc.

Human rights are a key tool in the struggle against hunger, which itself is not a fatality and often has human causes (unfair distribution of resources, absence of protection and observance of the rights of the weakest groups to those resources). They legitimize demands for structural changes to ensure that all humans can feed themselves, with dignity.

FIAN therefore supports victims of violations of the right to food, and urges States to meet their human rights commitments. It also supports an international campaign for land reform, works on the role of firms, on access to water and seeds, on women’s rights, and on other issues related to the right to food.

For further information on the FIAM, see p.1.

WHAT TO DO?

By letter: cut and paste the standard letter below or use your own wording. Send your letter to the address indicated below and remember to add your own address and to sign your letter.
E-mail: ministro@mintrab.gov.ec
Deadline: as soon as you receive this call and not later than mid-June 2005.

SUGGESTED LETTER:

Date :

Sr. Raúl Izurieta Mora Bowen
Ministro de trabajo
Clemente Ponce Nr. 255 y Piedrahita
(Nr. 50) piso 11
QUITO
ECUADOR

Excelentísimo Sr. Izurieta,

Pormedio de Réseau-Solidarité (Rennes, France) y de FIAN - Coordination française (Grenoble, France), me enteré del estado en que se encuentran los 132 trabajadores de la hacienda María Teresa, en huelga desde el 6 de diciembre del 2004.

Los trabajadores denuncian la tercerizadora "Servicios Agrícolas Servitecagro" y los antiguos propietarios de la hacienda por el incumplimiento del pago de las semanas laboradas y de sus obligaciones sociales y laborales. Además, la Subsecretaría de Trabajo está obstaculizando la constitución legal del sindicato que han formado, al exigírseles la presentación de un certificado del Seguro Social, lo que no está previsto en la constitución ni en el código de trabajo.

En el caso de la Hacienda María Teresa, el Estado Ecuatoriano no está cumpliendo con sus obligaciones internacionales, sobre todo con las disposiciones del PIDESC, del Convenio 87 de la OIT, y con la obligación de garantir el acceso a la alimentación.

Preocupado por este caso, le solicito respetuosamente que utilice todos los medios a su alcance para atender a las peticiones de los trabajadores y de la FENACLEpara que:
- se garantice el pago de los salarios adecuados a los trabajadores,
- se apruebe la constitución legal del sindicato de los trabajadores.

Atentamente.

Translation:

Dear Sir

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité (Rennes, France) and FIAN-Coordination française (Grenoble, France) of the situation of 132 labourers on the Hacienda María Teresa, on strike since 6 December 2004.

These workers are protesting against the "tercerizadora" Servicios Agricolas Servitecagro and the former owners of the plantation for unpaid wages and non-observance of social and labour legislation. The Under-secretary for Labour has, moreover, refused to legally recognize the union that the workers have created, unless they are able to produce a social security certificate. This requirement is stipulated in neither the Constitution nor the Labour Code.

In the case of the Hacienda María Teresa, the Ecuadorian state has failed to meet its international commitments, particularly those of the ICESC, Convention 87 of the ILO, and the obligation to guarantee access to food.

I am concerned about this situation and therefore urge you to use all available means to satisfy the demands of these workers and of the FENACLE so that:
- decent wages are paid to plantation workers
- the creation of a trade union is legally approved.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Signature
Name

[1] Federación Nacional de Trabajadores Agroindustriales, Campesinos e Indígenas Libres del Ecuador. The FENACLE is a member of the Latin American Coordination of Banana Unions (COLSIBA) with which Peuples Solidaires cooperates via Euroban.

[2] The reference minimum monthly wage for a family is estimated at US$418 and the poverty line is set at US$279.

[3] These agencies are known as “Tercerizadoras” in Ecuador.