PANUPS: A Valentine for Flower Workers

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PANUPS: A Valentine for Flower Workers

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 10:00:00 -0800

 

 

 

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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A Valentine for Flower Workers

February 11, 2005

 

Shortly before one of the biggest flower-giving holidays of the year,

flower workers in Ecuador have petitioned their government for

permission to establish an industry wide union. Their request has been

denied

twice before by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Labor, so the workers are also

turning to consumers in the U.S., where half of Ecuador's flowers are

sold, asking PANUPS readers to urge Ecuadorian officials to certify the

union. A link at the end of this article opens a sample email to the

Ministry of Labor in Quito. The flower workers have chosen to name their

new union for Valentine's Day, Federación de Trabajadores Floricultores

14 de Febrero, a testament to the significance of consumer purchases on

this day.

 

The perfect blooms that workers in Ecuador and other Central American

countries grow, cut, and pack for export rely on intensive use of highly

hazardous pesticides. The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF)

reports that two thirds of Colombian and Ecuadorian floriculture workers

experience health problems as a result of their work. Child labor is

increasingly common in the sector. According to the International Labor

Organization, fully 20% of workers in Ecuadorian floriculture are

children

and more than 70% of floriculture workers in Colombia and Ecuador are

women. The ILRF reports that illegal pregnancy tests are often required

at the time of hiring, and pregnant workers are fired. Some plantations

force workers to work overtime without overtime pay before

flower-giving holidays, and have fired workers for union organizing

activities.

Plantations increasingly hire workers through sub-contractors, who

provide

less training, transportation, and benefits than workers hired

directly. Subcontractors are also able shift workers from one

plantation to

another to avoid union organizing efforts.

 

An industry wide flower worker union would provide workers with the

collective strength to counter these abuses. Currently, workers at only

four of Ecuador's 300 flower companies have managed to organize unions.

Those four existing unions have joined the petition for an industry wide

federation, understanding that it will make them all stronger.

 

Floriculture workers in Colombia have a sector wide union, Untraflores,

which brought international attention to the pesticide poisoning of 200

workers at a large floriculture facility near Bogotá in 2003 (see

PANUPS, Workers Poisoned in Colombia, December 11, 2003,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20031211.dv.html). Late

last year Untraflores gained certification for the first local union of

flower workers at a Dole plantation in Colombia. Since it was certified,

the new union has gained members and none have been fired, despite

management threats.

 

If certified, Federación de Trabajadores Floricultores 14 de Febrero

would represent flower workers at any plantation in the country, and

enable single workers to join. In the absence of a sector wide

organization, at least 25 workers at a facility need to petition to

form a union.

While organizing themselves into a union, workers are the most

vulnerable to firing or other repercussions for union activity.

 

In 2002 and again in 2003 floriculture workers petitioned the

Ecuadorian Minister of Labor for permission to form a union, as

allowed under

the Ecuadorian Labor Code. The Minister denied both requests on technical

grounds. The ILRF reports that the Labor Ministry asked Expoflores, the

association of Ecuadorian flower producers and exporters, to weigh in

on the workers' request. " The exporters' association, " argues ILRF

" should not have the right to deny the workers the freedom to form

this type

of union. "

 

On February 9, 2005, workers applied for a third time, and have asked

consumers around the world to send a Valentine to the Ecuadorian

Minister of Labor, urging him to allow the Federación de Trabajadores

Floricultores 14 de Febrero to represent all of the nation's floriculture

workers.

 

Visit our new Action Center to email your letter/Valentine to Quito

 

For more information on labor conditions at Ecuadorian flower

plantations, see the ILRF appeal,

http://www.laborrights.org/actions/index.php.

 

Sources: International Labor Rights Fund, Fairness in Flowers Campaign,

http://www.laborrights.org; PANUPS, Action Alert, Workers Poisoned in

Colombia, December 11, 2003, Floriculture: Pesticides, Worker Health &

Codes of Conduct, June 12, 2002, Behind the Flowers, the Workers'

Rights, Cactus, Bogotá, Colombia, http://www.cactus.org.co.

Contact: ILRF http://www.laborrights.org, email, laborrights,

(202) 347-4100, PANNA.

 

 

 

We encourage those interested in having resources listed in the PANUPS

Resource Pointer to send review copies of publications, videos or other

resources to our office.

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and

reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the

mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North

America, a

non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance

sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and

all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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