INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AGAINST FRESH DEL MONTE PRODUCE OVER GUATEMALA CONFLICT

(NOTE: Fresh Del Monte Produce is a completely separate company from Del Monte Foods, which produces canned goods.)

An international campaign has been launched against Fresh Del Monte Produce for its failure to resolve its conflict with its Guatemalan union following last month's violent intimidation of union leaders. Negotiations for a resolution of the conflict between Fresh Del Monte Produce and its Guatemalan union were broken off November 13, leading to the initiation of the campaign against the Florida-based company.

The campaign is backed by the Geneva-based International Union of Foodworkers, the AFL-CIO, European non-governmental organizations, the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, Campaign for Labor Rights, NISGUA and other religious, human rights and trade union groups.

The company refused to agree to one of the union's primary demands, the reinstatement of 900 workers illegally fired in violation of the union's collective bargaining agreement. The workers were fired when Del Monte abruptly shut down three of its Guatemalan plantations in September.

Meanwhile, the Guatemalan government has not moved to arrest any of the 200 armed men who forced the union leadership to resign at gunpoint and flee for their lives on October 13, 1999. National Police investigators finally interviewed the union leaders officially on November 3. The government had previously known the names of at least 40 people who had been cited by the union for participating in the violent intimidation, but the government said it needed an official complaint to move forward, which the union said it would give as soon as the government provided security to them and their families. The security was eventually provided but it took another week before National Police investigators conducted the interviews.

Unless the Guatemalan government begins to take credible steps with respect to investigation and arrests, efforts to press the U.S. government to put Guatemala's trade benefits under probation or suspension will be stepped up.

Recommended Actions:

1. Contact the Guatemala Embassy in Washington. Urge the government to take swift action to prosecute those responsible for the violent intimidation of Sitrabi union leaders. Ambassador William Stixrud, Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala, 2200 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008. Tel: 202.745.4952; fax: 202.745.1908. Email: embaguat@sysnet.net.
   
   
2. Contact Fresh Del Monte Produce. Urge the company to reinstate the illegally fired 900 workers, not sell the three closed plantations and fire any Bandegua personnel who may have been involved in the violent intimidation. Mr. Mohammed Abu-Ghazeleh, Chief Executive Officer, Fresh Del Monte Produce, 800 Douglas Entrance, North Tower, 12th Floor, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Tel: 305.520.8400; Fax: 305.442.1059.

Posted November 18, 1999 by the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, 773.262.6502, usglep@igc.org.