“Fyffes expelled from Ethical Trading Initiative”, 26 de marzo de 2019

…NGOs Banana Link and the International Union of Foodworkers…alleged Fyffes had breached the ETI’s code by refusing to respect workers’ rights to join an independent trade union, known as freedom of association. The accusations resulted in the ETI suspending the Ireland-based banana giant in May 2017…Fyffes director of corporate affairs Caoimhe Buckley said the company would continue to provide ETI Base Code training to all its employees…Though “disappointed” by the decision, Fyffes said it disagreed with the ETI’s assessment, claiming Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS)…was not recognised by Honduran law…“Fyffes’ commitment to freedom of association requires us to recognise any union as a representative of its workers and will not exclude the legally constituted union from negotiations. We have written to STAS in good faith to resume negotiations in any way acceptable to both unions. We have had no response from STAS since we wrote to them on 31 January 2019.” On two other points raised by Banana Link and the IUF, Fyffes said the ETI had agreed it had taken “sufficient action” to satisfactorily address the issues. Banana Link said it was “hugely disappointed” to see Fyffes expelled from the Initiative, lamenting the failure of mediation to resolve the matter…