Victories in the Flower Industry at Long Last!

By Charity Ryerson, Program Coordinator, and Cecily Harwitt, Intern, USLEAP

Even amidst the hazardous and violent conditions for unionists in Colombia, strong leaders and unified coalitions persist in demanding basic rights for workers on flower plantations there. The hard work has finally started to pay off, as several unions announced major victories this month.

Keep reading to find out about these exciting victories!

Splendor Flowers

The contract signed at Splendor Flowers last week brings to a triumphant close the most publicized battle for labor rights in Colombia’s recent history. Last year, Dole, Splendor’s owner, closed one of the subsidiary’s two farms in response to the strong union organizing that was going on there. Even with the drop in morale caused by the obliteration of the country’s strongest union, the union at the other farm, Splendor El Rosal, continued negotiations with the company. They were finally granted arbitration by the Colombian government after Rep. George Miller intervened on their behalf. The arbitration tribunal came to a close last week, when workers signed a contract that includes significant improvements in conditions and wages.  Among the benefits negotiated are a $200-$400 bonus for not having received a salary increase in two years, a raise of $14 above the legal minimum (bringing most flower workers to a monthly salary of about $215), and improvements in vacation and sick time.

Fragrancia Flowers

Another contract was signed at a Dole Plantation following a two-year struggle. Members of the Untrafragancia union are now entitled to a 6% pay increase, bonuses for punctuality, additional pay for fumigation workers who are exposed to hazardous chemicals, and an education stipend so that flower workers can send their children to school. Now workers at this plantation will have the ability to send all of their children to school at once, and still afford food and clothing for their families.

Flores Papagayo

With nearly unprecedented speed (about 4 months), the Colombian government gave legal recognition to the new union at the Flores Papagayo flower plantation. While the company is appealing the approval of the union's registration, this shows a marked change from past experience, when new unions would wait months or years for registrations, often being denied multiple times.  This is an example of the growing strength of worker organizations in the Colombian flower sector, and gives us hope for more victories to come.

Comments

[Cecily]

Hey John,

These advances definitely came with a lot of hardships and sacrifice, as union victories in Colombia are nearly unheard of. Over 400 trade unionists have been murdered since Uribe came into office, which is part of what makes it so infuriating when FTA proponents cite the recent decrease in violence in Colombia as a reason to sign the agreement. For more information, you should check out USLEAP's page about flower workers and their struggle for economic justice at http://usleap.org/node/94.

[John]

This is great news! It's nice to read a post about trade unionists in Colombia where there's no mention of an assassination or some other grizzly detail.

That said, I wonder if you can share with us the struggle of these workers in their organizing efforts. From a U.S. perspective, we tend to overlook the fierce struggles of Colombian workers. Who died to get these workers to this point? Has Dole been complicit in any trade unionist kilings? What would the Colombia FTA mean to these workers?

Thanks for the update.