Flower farms in Colombia & Ecuador: Concerns about labour rights & working conditions - responses by Dole & Flores de la Montaña

Several reports in February 2007 raised concerns about labour rights & working conditions on flower farms in Colombia & Ecuador:

• Sweatshop Roses: The Hidden Price of Saying 'I Love You', Justin Rood, ABC News [USA], 14 Feb 2007

• Valentine’s Day: Labor Conditions at US-Owned Plantations Show Hidden Realities of Flower Industry - interview on Democracy Now [US radio programme] with Nora Ferm, International Labor Rights Fund, and Beatriz Fuentes, Sintrasplendor Union, 14 Feb 2007

• U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project (US LEAP) - 13 Feb 2007 documents:
    - press release: Worker Rights Groups Denounce Valentine's Day Mass Firings; Release Report Blasting Colombian Flower Conditions [PDF]
    - full report: A Valentine's Day Report: Worker Justice and Basic Rights on Flower Plantations in Colombia and Ecuador [PDF]

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited flower companies to respond to these articles:

• Dole response [DOC]

• Flores de la Montaña response [DOC] (Spanish only) to allegations of firing union workers (Ecuador), on pg. 11 of "A Valentine's Day Report [PDF]"