Article 23: Right to work, to equal pay for equal work and to form and join trade unions
Case Study: ECUADOR'S TRADE UNIONS
- The majority of bananas produced for export in Latin America are produced on industrial scale plantations many of which employ large numbers of poorly paid workers with little or no job security.
- Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter.
The Largest Exporter
Ecuador is the largest banana exporter in the world. Its plantations supply corporations like Dole Food Company, Inc., Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, and Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
Human Rights activists say it does not adequately enforce its own labour laws. Many plantation workers in Ecuador are subjected to hazardous work environments, often with little job security, and are deterred from organising for fear of dismissal.
Ecuadorian laws that are intended to protect workers' right to freedom and to form and join trade unions do not deter employers from discriminating against workers who organise.
For example, although the Ecuadorian Constitution and Labour Code guarantee the right to organise, they do not require reinstatement of workers fired for taking part in union activity. The only requirement is that an employer pays a small fine for an anti-union dismissal.
According to Human Rights Watch, in most cases involving banana workers, the fine is less than US$400.
Labour Contracts
In addition, Ecuador's failure to enforce its Labour Code provisions enable employers to create a vulnerable workforce in the banana sector.
This failure allows for the informal use of consecutive short-term contracts and multiple project contracts.
Typically, a series of temporary contracts are offered for many months or years on end. Under these contracts, workers are not entitled to the benefits offered to permanent employees.
Because they are not permanent, workers have no legal guarantee that their jobs will extend beyond the short time period for which they are hired. Furthermore, their employers are not bound by Labour Code provisions that prohibit dismissals for taking part in union activity.
If temporary workers participate in union activity, they may not be directly fired, but they risk not being rehired after their short term contract expires.
The struggle for worker's rights has not only raised the issue of government accountability to international and domestic law, but also the question of corporate responsibility.
International Solidarity Helps
The banana industry appears to be one of the worst violators of trade union rights.
According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' (ICFTU) annual report, published in 2002, there have been many cases in which falling prices on the banana market have been used as a pretext for the widespread dismissal of unionised workers, who have been harassed and blacklisted.
Given the restrictions on the right to form and join trade unions in many Latin American countries, international trade union solidarity plays an important role.