How migrant workers are brutalized and terrorized in the caribbean/central american country of Belize (formerly the British colony of British Hounduras) by the British-based Company Fyffes and others.
The banana industry was revitalized in Belize in the 1970s by a government concerned to provide a labour-intensive industry for the depressed south. At first established with a tenant-farmer arrangement supervised by a statutory board, government poured millions into infrastructure and in securing favourable marketing arrangements. The industry was privatized in 1985, and today nine owners, several of them foreign, control more than 90% of employed are Central American immigrants, and the owners have succeeded in destroying any attempt by the workers to organize.
It was not always like this. Banana workers were unionized from 1975 to 1985, but then owners and government had conspired to de-Belizeanize the labour force in order to make the industry more competitive. As the 1980s rolled on, thousands of refugees from war-torn Central American countries poured into Belize, and suddenly where there had been a shortage of labour there was an abundance. Additional cheap immigrant labour was brought from Honduras.
Today, the industry openly and structurally depends on immigrant labour with some of the lowest average wages in CARICOM. Although the workers may earn in money term twice as they would in Honduras, their real wages end up as bad or worse, given the much higher cost of living and the refusal of most owners to provide housing and other amenities. Belize lobbies for preferences in European markets on the basis that it treats workers better than do the "dollar banana" countries. The facts, however, show that this is a big lie.
Workers are held hostage to their immigrant status by the owners. The vast majority are given legal status only by the "work permits" issued by the Immigration authorities to the employers, who often keep them in their possession, long with the passports and other documents of the workers. They seem able to orchestrate sweeps by the Immigration authorities, as well as the repressive apparatus of the State.
Thus it was that when in May 1995 the immigrant workers organized themselves for the first time in a union (registered as the United Banners Banana Workers Union, or "Banderas Unidas") and tried to dialogue with owners, the latter rebuffed them. The Union straged a strike in June, and the military and police swept into the area, systematically brutalized and terrorized the workers, and carried busloads of them to the Guatemalan border for deportation. The Guatemalans refused to accept the majority, who were Honduras, and they were returned to the banana belt, suitably cowed by their harrowing experience, which included beatings.
Beaten back but not beaten down, the Union, under the presidency of a remarkable Belizean woman, Marciana Funez, continued to quietly build its strength and attract allies. The Catholic Bishop of Belize denounced the "blatant disgregard for human rights". The Jesuit Superior celebrated a Mass of solidarity with the workers, and Sisters of Charity resident in the area have been very supportive. The National Trade Union Congress of Belize, SPEAR, the Association of National Development Agencias and others have expressed their support for "Banderas Unidas".
So far, however, these forces of reason have been no match for the economic power of the Banana Growers Association (BGA - they call themselves "growers", but are the owners of the farms) supported by the repressive forces of State, and the abuses continue.
These abuses include the open violation of the legal right of workers to participate in a trade union as well as systematic violations of labour laws, with connivance of the Labour Department of government.
Workers are deprived of wages due them by illegal deductions (many workers get a pay packet at the end of two weeks' work marked "0.00" after deductions), falsified time-keeping and place rates that in practice fall far short of the legal minimum wage of US$1.00 per hour. They are forced to work overtime and on Sundays, sometimes without any remuneration or overtime pay. They are fired after many years of service without any severance pay.
Packing shed workers, the majority of them women, are required to report to work at a certain time but are not paid for time spent waiting for fruit to arrive. In many sheads, they spend hours standing with their feet immersed in water, and without protection against chemical used. They are arbitrarily paid less than is their due for no apparent reason. And if they complain of any of these abuses they are summarly fired. They are subject to blatant sexual harassment, and when SPEAR took this up with the all-male BGA, they compounded their down-playing of this with sexist jokes.
The labour laws call for some minimum health, safety and housing requirements which are flagrantly flouted by the owners. The worst abuses of these as of the other laws occur on farms managed by the Fyffes group, which also markets all of Belize's bananas. Residents on those farms are housed in tiny shacks or barracks in the middle of the banana fields, without any sanitary facilities or drinking water. Indeed, those who attempt to build pit latrines are prevented and threatened. A workers who tried to get drinking water from an irrigation line was beaten by Fyffes' "security" guards. They are forced to do their toilet use for drinking water. These wells, as well as the people themselves, are already contamined by the aerial spraying of poisonous chemicals. Children are especially vulnerable, and indeed child labour (under 14) is practiced in several farms.
What workers complain of most, however, is that they are really treated worse than animals. At least there are laws in Belize that protect wildlife; none are enforced to protect immigrant workers. They are treated with contempt and total disrespect, and this is compouned, in the case of the Fyffes-managed farms, by the often brutal behaviour of its "security guards", who spell great insecurity and danger for the workers. Headed by an ex-British Army person, this force terrorizes and abuses workers and other residents in the area to such an extent that parents invoke the Britisher's name to put their recalcitrant children under manners.
Despite repeated rebuffs, the Union has been trying to dialogue with owners for months and forestall a confrontation. In November 1995 there seemed to be a willingness on the part of the owners to negotiate, but it turned out to be a trick to gain time and bring down the guard of the Union so that they could unleash the dogs of war on them. On the day that the BGA was to respond to a proposal for dialogue, the "Serious Crimes Squad" (known as the Dragon Unit) of the national police detained and harassed the executive members of the Union, making it clear to them that this was because of their Union activities. Those committing the serious crimes area the owners, but they seem to be able to direct the Dragon against the workers at will.
The banana farm owners, and in particular the Fyffes company, are benefitting from preferential in the European markets, but they are benefitting even more from the heartless exploitation of immigrant workers, treating them little better than slaves.
The United Benners Banana Workers Union appeals to the international community, in the first instance, to write to the government of Belize, to the BGA, to the British parliament and government, to Fyffe's officies in Belize, in Florida and in the UK, to the European Union, to the media and to any other relevant body to protest this inhumane treatment and to call for respect for the human and legal rights of workers. Should your pleas fall on deaf ears, we will be getting in touch with you again requesting further measures - including, if necessary, a boycott. Please send copies of all letters to SPEAR.
Banana Growers Association Hon. Manuel Esquivel
Independence, Belize Prime Minister of Belize
Fax: 501-6-22112 Belmopan, Belize
Tel: 501-6-22000 / 220001 Fax: 501-8-23323
Fyffes Bananas International Hon. Dean Barrow
Independence, Belize Deputy Prime Minister and
Fax: 501-6-22262 Minister of Foreign Affairs
Tel: 501-6-22282 / 22091 and National Security
Belmopan, Belize
Fax: 501-8-22854
Ms. Marciana Funez Mr. Dylan Vernon
President, UBBWU Coordinator, Spear
Independance, Belize P.O. Box 1766
Fax: 501-6-22355 Fax: 501-2-32367
Tel: 501-6-22489 Tel: 501-2-31668 - 355
E-mail: spear@spear.org.bz