Those conditions, plus the efforts of workers organizing to combat them, are detailed in a new report, Fyffes Farms Exposed: The Fight for Justice in the Honduran Melon Fields, released by Fair World Project, International Labor Rights Forum, and the International Union of Food Workers Latin America Regional Secretariat, with support from 3F International. The report calls on Fyffes to take responsibility to remedy injustices on their Honduran melon plantations and to commit to a legally-binding, enforceable agreement to uphold workers’ rights.

Toxic Chemicals, Toxic Workplaces

“They use chemicals, we can smell them,” said one worker. “They put poison on the plants. We aren’t given masks. Once, I was fumigating with Random. It spilled. It felt like a bomb in my lungs. I didn’t report it. I didn’t receive any training before fumigating.” Other workers tell stories of fainting in the fields from chemicals and of being hospitalized, yet fearing for their jobs if they reported their injuries. Women report that despite the fact that it’s against Honduran law, they are forced to take a pregnancy test before getting hired and those who are pregnant don’t get hired, while those who conceive while working are reassigned.

Not only are conditions dangerous, workers are frequently not paid for hours worked and denied overtime pay for long days. Fyffes has also withheld the benefits owed under Honduran law, a sum that counts for a calculated annual wage theft of $5,087,590 across Fyffes’ seasonal workforce of 6,500 people. That theft from workers adds up: Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America and in the region where Fyffes operates, one in three people experience malnutrition.

Fyffes Has a Long History of Exploiting Workers

Workers on Fyffes’ plantations in Honduras have been stuck in a years-long struggle for basics: protection when handling toxic chemicals, payment for hours worked and benefits earned, and freedom from discrimination if they get pregnant.

To defend their basic workplace rights, the people, mostly women, who harvest and work on the melon farms came together and organized with the independent union El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS). Instead of sitting down with union leaders, however, Fyffes’ farm management took the opposite approach, refusing to recognize the union and beginning a campaign of threatening and harassing workers.

The report details Fyffes’ long history of trying to cover up the abuses on their farms, trusting that out of sight and offshore from their biggest market means out of mind. They even enlisted Fair Trade USA to help rebrand their model with a shiny veneer of fairness. But the workers’ voices have been heard and, thanks in part to the outpouring of nearly 10,000 messages from around the globe, Fair Trade USA revoked the certification of their Honduran plantation. The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) also kicked Fyffes out, recognizing that the way they treat people who work on their farms was not fit for the word “ethical.”

But exploitation on Fyffes Honduran plantations continues. And, instead of sitting down to address the workers’ long-standing concerns, Fyffes has instead turned up the disinformation.

Fake Unions, Real Violence: Fyffes Union-Busting Strategies

Usually, unions are formed by workers organizing and coming together to agree on their needs and build power. Those independent, worker-led unions then negotiate with management for better wages, safe working conditions, and other concrete needs they have identified. But on Fyffes melon plantations, management has backed the formation of two organizations, posing as farmworker unions, SITRAMELEXA and SITRASURAGROH, led by salaried workers and other members of management.

It’s a common tactic to combat workers’ organizing—instead of recognizing the workers’ own independent union, management puts forward another union and confuses the situation. It may not be uncommon, but it is against the principles of international labor law. Fyffes’ company-controlled unions continue to muddy the water, trying to mire the workers’ legitimate concerns in an alphabet soup of different names and claims. But the bottom line remains: Workers continue to be exposed to toxic chemicals, lack proper protective equipment, and Fyffes continues to deny them legally mandated benefits.

Instead of negotiating with workers, Fyffes representatives have gone in the opposite direction. They illegally fired workers who tried to organize back in 2016 and have continued to blacklist those workers, preventing them from earning a living, as well as harassing some to the point where they fear for their lives. The report chronicles a machete attack, kidnapping, and locking union leaders in company offices to coerce them into quitting their organizing.

That kind of retaliation is forbidden by international labor law – and by the codes of conduct of the U.S.-based supermarkets, many of whom continue to buy from Fyffes.

Organized Workers Are the Best Defenders of Their Rights

For decades, these workers have grown fruit for supermarkets in the U.S. in dangerous conditions for poverty wages. Fyffes’ corporate social responsibility initiatives have delivered some public relations material, but no substantial changes in the lives of their workers. Instead, generation after generation of workers have given their entire lives to these plantations until they are too physically sick or injured to work, or until they die. That promise of a coffin is grounded in a reality that Fyffes’ management understands too well.

The report concludes, “Fyffes must stop denying the truth about the ongoing violations on the plantations, fully respect trade union rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and proceed with genuine, good faith negotiations with STAS to reach a legally-binding and enforceable agreement that will address and remedy all workers’ longstanding and ongoing concerns with the poor working conditions.”

Under ongoing pressure, in 2019 Costco and Whole Foods Market ceased their orders of Fyffes Honduran melons. In Europe, Salling Group (formerly Sansk Supermarked) and Tesco reduced other Fyffes fruit orders due to the violations. By following their lead, other grocery stores would apply pressure to Fyffes, making a strong statement that they stand behind their codes of conduct—and for basic human decency.

While corporate-driven initiatives have failed to defend workers, around the globe, organized workers are making strides for safer workplaces and livable wages. Even in the face of violent union-busting, workers have continued to advocate for protective equipment and conditions to make a better life for their families. Now it’s high time for Fyffes to join them at the bargaining table.

Read the full report now.

The post Fyffes Farms Exposed: New Report Chronicles Worker Struggles on Honduran Melon Plantations appeared first on Fair World Project.

Fyffes: A Long History of Exploitation

First, a little background. Fyffes is one of those massive multinationals that you’ve probably never heard of, at least in the U.S. But, under the Sol brand, they are the #1 supplier of winter melons to the U.S. market and, under their own brand, the biggest banana supplier in Europe. Fyffes also owns plantations throughout Central America, plantations that have a long history of mistreating and exploiting their workers. Honduran farmworkers and union organizers have been standing up to Fyffes for over a decade now, fighting rampant wage theft, exposure to toxic agrochemicals, and poor working conditions.

Several years ago, farmworkers on Fyffes’ Suragroh plantation came together and organized the independent union STAS. Their goal: to fight for a safe workplace and fair wages. Instead, Fyffes’ local management has retaliated at every turn, firing workers and unleashing a violent campaign of intimidation against organizers. Despite the ongoing labor dispute, in April of 2018, Fair Trade USA went ahead and granted their fair trade seal to melons grown on Fyffes’ Suragroh plantation.

“Charity is Not the Same as Justice”

This winter, nearly 10,000 people sent messages of solidarity to Fair Trade USA, calling on them to decertify Fyffes’ Suragroh plantation. Only then did Fair Trade USA take action, send in inspectors, and, finally, revoke their certification of Fyffes’ fair trade melons. Shortly after that, Fyffes’ management agreed to negotiate with members of the union STAS—an agreement they broke almost immediately.

Instead, Fyffes’ has continued their pattern of anti-union activity. Workers report that instead of rehiring fired union members and coming to the negotiating table as promised, Fyffes has doubled down on their tactics of harassment and intimidation. The company management has formed their own union and organized anti-union demonstrations. One worker was threatened by a human resources manager participating in the demonstration, “We will beat you and leave you pulverized.”

Pressure continues to mount for workers to join the employer-controlled union. And, faced with growing awareness from the rest of the world, Fyffes continues to step up their efforts to put a friendly veneer on their labor abuses, launching a gender equality program to benefit the same workers they continue to exploit. In the words of one of the union’s organizers, “Charity is not the same as justice. The farmworkers want Fyffes to follow the law, not to create programs in order to distract from the company’s obligation to put an end to and remediate labor rights violations…”

Turning the Tide against Unfair Fruit

But the veneer is cracking. Both the Ethical Trading Initiative and Fair Trade USA have ended their relationship with Fyffes. Will this increase pressure on Fyffes to negotiate with STAS, the independent farmworker union, or allow this story to slip away and become just another of the many other stories of exploitation of Central and South American fruit production?

The reality is that neither the Ethical Trading Initiative nor Fair Trade USA was able to follow through on their ambitions to protect and empower workers and make trade more fair or ethical. Indeed, activists have observed that both organizations are doing a better job at creating the appearance of fairness than actually changing the situation on the ground. Fair World Project and others in the fair trade movement have long argued that plantations have no place in the fair trade movement. Unfortunately, this case is an example of just how true that is, and how inadequate an annual audit is to protect workers’ rights.

What does it take to shift the balance of power and allow workers to more effectively negotiate for their rights? Organizing. When workers come together and bargain collectively, they are better positioned to win better working conditions, fair wages, and the health and safety protections that the workers on Fyffes’ Suragroh plantation have been so long denied.

That’s why it’s high time for Fyffes to negotiate with the independent union STAS. Show farmworkers that the world is watching by sharing this post and helping turn the tide against unfair fruit.

The post Fyffes Kicked out of Ethical Trading Initiative. Now What? appeared first on Fair World Project.