Blatantly disregarding national laws and international labor standards safeguarding workers’ right to organize, Japanese-owned billion-dollar multinational fruit company Fyffes has terminated all permanent worker-members of the independent farmworker union and IUF affiliate, El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS). The action appears to be a direct response to workers’ union involvement and is a clear escalation by the company in a long pattern of union-busting and violations of international labor standards which made Fyffes an emblematic case in a complaint filed by Honduran unions and the AFL-CIO through the labor chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
The 14 fired workers include the local STAS chapter General Secretary and three other union officers as well as a whistle-blowing lab worker who informed a government minister earlier this year that the melon workers’ water supply had been contaminated with E. coli. The fired union members were all permanent employees who worked in melon production, the company’s lab, or security. The firing comes just a few months after over 500 people marched on the company and delivered a petition signed by over 1000 seasonal workers demanding Fyffes sign an international labor rights agreement with the union.
The IUF, together with GLJ-ILRF, joins STAS in condemning the firings and supporting the workers’ call for reinstatement. Workers have filed cases against Fyffes with the Honduran Ministry of Labour which has begun inspections and investigations. STAS and global allies are calling on the company to resolve and remedy the retaliation including the following:
- Fyffes must immediately reinstate the 14 permanent workers who were wrongfully fired
- Fyffes must immediately cease all forms of anti-union retaliation against workers who exercise their fundamental labour rights
- Fyffes must resume negotiations and sign the binding agreement to protect workers’ labour rights
“Fyffes’ firing of the permanent employees and STAS members after they walked away from talks with the union bears all the hallmarks of retaliatory anti-union action and is unacceptable,” stated Tomas Membreño, Organizing Director of STAS and of the national labor federation FESTAGRO.
