Links on Banana Workers Rights
U.S/Labor Education Project of the Americas (US/LEAP)
US/LEAP is an independent non-profit organization that supports the basic rights of workers in Central America. They work with U.S. religious, human rights, and trade union groups to support the rights of workers in Central America, especially those who are employed directly or indirectly by U.S. companies. They are the U.S. labor advocacy organization that has been campaigning for banana workers rights for several years.
www.usleap.org
Stephen Coats, Director, usglep@igc.org
Joan Axthelm, Campaign Coordinator, usleapja@mindspring.com
PO Box 268-290, Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 262.6502 tel
(773) 262.6602 fax
Coordination of Latin American Banana Unions
COLSIBA is the network of banana unions from Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, and Honduras. They have called for a moratorium on the implementation of the "First Come, First Served" European trade regime, and asked US and European groups to organize campaigns in solidarity.
Honduras coordination
(504) 668-1736
cosibah@sigmanet.hn
Costa Rica sub-coordination
(506) 283.5693 or 283.5872
Gilberth Bermudez, General Secretary, sidcolsi@sol.racsa.co.cr
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)
The IUF is a world-wide federation of trade unions representing workers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; all stages of tobacco processing; and hotels, restaurants catering services and the tourism industry. They represent 326 organizations in 118 countries, representing a total of approximately 10 million workers, and have been very active in defending banana workers' rights.
www.iuf.org
iuf@iuf.org
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213 Petit-Lancy, Switzerland
(011) 41 22 793 22 33 tel
(011) 41 22 793 22 38 fax
Foro Emaús
Windward Islands Farmers' Association (WINFA)
WINFA is a network of banana farmers cooperatives in the Windward Islands -- St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Dominica, and Grenada. The European Lomé Convention, on which the initial EU policy on bananas was based, was initially created to help protect small banana farmers in these countries for whom bananas are the primary source of income.
Renwick Rose, winfa@caribsurf.com
PO Box 817, Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Caribbean Banana Exporters Association (CBEA)
The Caribbean Banana Exporters Association was formed in 1972 to bring together the Banana Growers' Associations in Jamaica and the Windward Islands (Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada) who were the traditional suppliers to the UK market.
www.cbea.org
Banana Link
Banana Link aims to alleviate poverty and prevent further environmental degradation in banana exporting communities and to work towards a sustainable banana economy. They aim to achieve this by working co-operatively with partners in Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa and the Philippines and with a network of European and North American organizations. Their website is an excellent resource of information.
www.bananalink.org.uk
Alistair Smith, blink@gn.apc.org
38-40 Exchange St. Norwich, NR2 1AX England
00.1603.765670 tel
00.1603.761645 fax
European Banana Action Network (EUROBAN)
EUROBAN is a coalition of over 30 European non-governmental organizations and trade unions working for sustainable banana production in partnership with organizations of small farmers and trade unionists in producer regions -- African, Caribbean, Pacific and Latin American countries.
bananas.agoranet.be
52 West End, Old Costessey, Norwich NR8 5AJ, Britain
(44) 1603.749.416 tel
euroban@gn.apc.org
Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO)
Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
PANNA has campaigned to replace pesticides with ecologically sound alternatives since 1982. They have extensive documentation about the pesticides involved in banana production on their searchable website.
www.panna.org
49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 541.9140 tel
(415) 541.9253 fax
panna@panna.org
European Commission Directorate General on Trade
The European DG on Trade is the policy setting body which created the First Come First Served EU trade regime. A complete history of the WTO banana war is available on their website.
200, Rue de la Loi (CHAR 7/119), B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
322.295.2888 tel
322.296.9854 fax
trade-a3@cec.eu.int
Also see Banana Link's website for more European links:
www.bananalink.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns.htm
