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Costa Rica Urgent Action on Freedom of Association
(Euroban urgent action)
Solidansmo Replaces Freedom of Association
The multinationals put considerable pressure on the trade unions, helped by certain sections of the Catholic church, by successive govemments, and by the North American embassy. This Solidarismo movement, particularly focusing on the banana industry, has succeeded in practically replacing the unions. The power of the workers to negotiate their wages and working conditions was the first victim of this change.
Four of the seven banana unions disappeared between 1985 and 1992. Thus the multinationals and the national producers do not need to worry about resistance from organised employees to the restructuring of the market resulting from the new European banana import regime.
Deterioration of Worker's Rights
The national and multinational companies have compiled 'black lists' of workers who remain members of unions, and even of those who are simply sympathetic to the unions. Every employer has access to this black list when hiring new staff, and the result is that thousands of workers are excluded from the plantations and forced into unemployment. Union organisers and leaders are not allowed on to plantations, and unions have to organise secretly. Many social benefits have gradually been lost as employers have introduced temporary contracts giving, in most cases, just 90 days employment. Workers now have to look for new work every ninety days. Companies are increasingly preferring to take on migrant workers, in particular those from Nicaragua and Panama, but also those from Costa Rica's indigenous population. For some years worker's wages have fallen greatly in real terms, and working hours have risen to twelve or thirteen hours per day; this also applies to the women working in the banana packing sheds.
Tentative Revival of the Unions
In 1989, in a very weakened position, the trade unions began to form new alliances with environmental organisations and progressive sectors of the church, in an attempt to deal with the effects of the end of the expansion of banana production and problems resulting from the tropical environment. In 1993, the Costa Rican trade unions initiated an important process of consultation at the regional level that resulted in the creation of the Coordinadora de Sindicatos Bananeros de América Latina, bringing together twenty one organisations from seven countries.
At the national level, the three trade unions that had survived the assault of "solidarismo", created their own coordinating body to re-enforce their position regarding the government and the producers. Since 1994, these unions have undergone a certain revival, in the face of anti union repression on the plantations. The workers began to regain a number of the social rights lost during the rise of solidarismo.
Faced with the refusal on the part of the government to enter into dialogue on the issue of fundamental rights to freedom of association, a strike began in July - August 1996 in Limón Province (which includes the port of Limón), supported by fifty grassroots organisations. The strike forced the government to initiate contacts with the unions on the numerous social and economic demands that they had made. At the end of the strike, which had paralysed the banana production zone for several weeks, the only point on which the government refused to negotiate - the most important to the unions - was the right to freedom of association.
The Government Challenges the Unions
In November 1996, the government itself explained to the union representatives in the discussions the necessity of strong pressure coming from the European consuming countries in order to persuade them to convoke the tripartite meeting demanded by the unions, who wanted to bring together the Ministry of Labour, the employers, both national and multinational, and the unions themselves for talks on the issue of freedom of association.
The campaigns launched in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and Britain have not yet been sufficient to move the government to action. The sackings of workers affiliated to the trade unions, just as the persecutions throughout the plantations, have continued. In 1997, Gilberth Bermudez, General Secretary of the SITRAP union in Siquirres, Costa Rica, said that "The govemment judges that the EU consumers have not yet become sufficiently mobilised. It is essential that this tripartite meeting on freedom of association is convened as soon as possible. We are entering a critical phase where international solidarity could make a real difference."
Action and support is requested by the Coordinadora de Sindicatos Bananeros de Costa Rica (representing the individual unions SITRAP, SITRACHIRI and SITRAGAH).
Letters should demand freedom of association on banana plantations, and an end to the dismissal of unionised workers and persecution of union leaders.
They should call on the Costa Rica government to convene a tripartite meeting with unions and employers as soon as possible.
Address and send letters to:
President JOSE' MARIA FIGUERES
Fax: +506 253 9078
Minister of Labour, FARID AYALES ESOA
Fax: +506 222 8085
If possible, letters should be in Spanish.
It could also be mentioned that in April 1996, the Freedom of Association Committee of the International Labour Organisation urged the Costa Rican government to respect the freedom of association in banana plantations (Case number 1781).
For further details on this and other urgent actions, contact the European Banana Action Network Secretariat. Tel: +44 1603 765670 Fax: +44 1603 761645
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