6/10/02	Our Fruit, Their Labor and Global Reality -- In the United States and elsewhere, the globalization debate still rages. Is it an exciting path to widespread prosperity? Or a dressed-up version of the old economic system that enriches some while leaving others behind? One answer can be found on the banana plantations of Ecuador. For the past several years, the world's largest banana companies have become increasingly enamored of that country's low-wage, nonunion workforce. (Washington Post)
7/15/02	In Ecuador's Banana Fields, Child Labor Is Key to Profits -- Growers and exporters here, who supply 25 percent of the bananas eaten in the United States, say the product earns them about 30 percent less today than a decade ago, often prompting them to turn a blind eye to labor codes. Child labor is common on plantations, large and small. (The New York Times)
6/10/02	Our Fruit, Their Labor and Global Reality -- In the United States and elsewhere, the globalization debate still rages. Is it an exciting path to widespread prosperity? Or a dressed-up version of the old economic system that enriches some while leaving others behind? One answer can be found on the banana plantations of Ecuador. For the past several years, the world's largest banana companies have become increasingly enamored of that ...(Washington Post)
4/25/02	Ecuador: Widespread labor abuse on banana plantations -- Banana workers in Ecuador are the victims of serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. (Human Rights Watch)
7/22/01	Dole Food's labor history is bumpy -- There has been a series of legal actions involving the company's workers. The Dole Food Co.'s unexpected layoffs of 1,900 workers in the southern San Joaquin Valley again has put a focus on the firm's labor relations record. (Sacramento Bee)
7/2/01	Dispute Settlement: EU welcomes suspension of US sanctions following resolution of WTO banana dispute -- The European Union on 2 July welcomed the United States' decision of 1 July 2001 to suspend the increased customs duties it imposed on certain EU exports in 1999 as a result of a long-running dispute over bananas. (European Union's Directorate General on Trade)
6/14/01	International Union of Foodworkers, the Coordination of Latin American Banana Unions and Chiquita Sign Historic Agreement on Trade Union Rights for Banana Workers -- The IUF, COLSIBA and CHIQUITA announced today the signing of an historic agreement on "Freedom of Association, Minimum Labour Standards and Employment in Latin American Banana Operations."
6/1/01	Guatemala worker rights group appalled at USTR decision -- In its first major test of applying worker rights conditions to international trade, the Bush Administration has fallen flat on its face and is misleading the public to boot (US/LEAP)
4/30/01	Dispute Settlement: EU and Ecuador reach agreement to resolve WTO banana dispute -- Today, the EU and Ecuador announced that they have reached an agreement today to resolve their long-standing dispute over bananas in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). (European Union's Directorate General on Trade)
4/22/01	Workers' rights a tough sell to Guatemala's plantation owners -- They were held for hours by armed thugs. Their leader was kidnapped and brought to the Guatemala City union hall, where he and others were forced to go on a local radio station and cancel a demonstration by banana workers. Then, after being forced to resign their union jobs, the union officials were ordered out of town with their families. If they stayed, they were told, they would be killed. (Chicago Tribune)
4/14/01	Dole Says Trade Accord on Bananas Favors Rival -- The Dole Food Company, one of the largest banana producers in the world, yesterday sharply criticized the recent agreement between the United States and the European Union to end the trade dispute over bananas. (New York Times)
4/12/01	WINFA Statement on the Banana Trade Wars Settlement -- WINFA, as a long-standing campaigner for the interests of the farmers of the Caribbean, has always viewed the problems affecting the marketing of Caribbean bananas in Europe as an unfortunate casualty of the "trade war" between the United States of America and the European Union (EU). For that reason, any move to settle the differences which affect banana marketing, is welcomed by WINFA. (WINFA)
4/12/01	U.S. and Europeans Agree on Deal to End Banana Trade War -- The United States and the European Union reached an agreement yesterday that ends a costly trade war over European banana imports, a dispute that pushed Chiquita Brands International to the brink of bankruptcy and led to punitive tariffs on a range of European goods. (New York Times)
4/3/01	Caribbean Banana Earnings Slip: Farmers In The Windward Islands Plan -- Amid increasingconcern over the future oftheir preferential access to the European market, banana exporters in the Windward Islands have seen their problems compounded by a fall in income from sales to the European Union. (Financial Times)
4/1/01	EU-US banana agreement a reprieve for most workers; puts impending Dole campaign on hold -- The European Union (EU) and the U.S. have reached a tentative agreement in a nine-year old banana trade war that sets aside the EU's controversial "first come, first served" (FCFS) free trade proposal. (US/Labor Education in the Americas Project)
3/24/01	22 Convicted of Harassing Workers -- "But it's not an acceptable outcome to have people walk free. They will pay some money and don't serve time in jail, and on the other side of the equation, you have five families whose lives have been destroyed." (Miami Herald)
3/17/01	Banana Workers Allege Abuses -- The banana workers in Morales, Guatemala, planned something of a strike one night, and the townspeople wouldn't hear of it. (Miami Herald)
3/15/01	Big Business At Your Service -- WTO rules could force governments to privatise their basic functions. The United States does not grow many bananas. Yet under a virtually unknown trade agreement it won a case challenging the European Union's support for small Caribbean banana producers. The dispute was initiated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (Gats), after pressure from banana-growing multinationals and a large donation from Chiquita to the Democratic party in the US. (Guardian)
3/13/01	"First Come, First Served" A Race to the Bottom for Banana Workers -- The greatest threat to the standard of living for banana workers in Latin America is the new banana import plan that the European Union is slated to begin on July 1, 2001. (U.S./LEAP)
3/10/01	Guatemalan Rights Probe Tied To Trade -- The U.S. Trade Representative held hearings Friday on worker rights and union intimidation in Guatemala, a closely watched case that marks the first time the government office has initiated a probe that might result in suspending trade benefits. (Miami Herald)
3/9/01	The Banana Wars; Solving The U.S.-EU Trade Dispute -- The European Union has finally committed to an open and competitive banana market. In January it passed a law to open the banana market no later than Jan. 1, 2006. Dole applauds this step. The United States has long wanted it. So have we. (Washington Times)
3/5/01	Letter from the Latin American Coordination of Banana Workers' Unions to the European Union (PDF 42KB) -- A letter from COLSIBA expressing their concern about new "First Come, First Served" trade regimen. COLSIBA represents 20 unions in eight countries, with more than 35,000 affiliates.
3/7/01	US Says Could Target New EU Goods In Banana Dispute -- The top U.S. trade negotiator warned the European Union on Wednesday the Bush administration could target a new batch of EU goods for retaliatory duties in a banana trade dispute. (Reuters)
2/27/01	IUF Statement: New EU Banana Regime Threatens Industry Workers Worldwide -- The IUF has called on the European Union to renegotiate its new banana import regime, scheduled to go into effect as early as April 1. According to IUF general secretary Ron Oswald, the EU's transitional tariff quota system of "first come, first served (FCFS)" poses an immediate threat to the livelihoods of thousands of banana workers around the world. (IUF)
2/8/01	In Geneva, All Banana Supplier Countries Dispute EU's New Import Regime -- Countries suppliers of bananas are against the new import regime the Union has provided itself with in view of putting an end to a dispute that has lasted too long, said the Commission representative in Geneva, Carlo Trojan, at the latest meeting of the dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). (Agence Europe)
2/7/01	Trade Feud on Bananas Not as Clear as It Looks -- In the simmering eight-year trade feud over bananas, the two sides have publicly staked out simple positions: the European Union maintains import quotas to protect the fragile economies of former colonies where bananas are grown, while the United States is foursquare for unfettered trade. (New York Times)
2/6/01	Going Bananas -- With a history tied to colonial exploitation, union busting, presidential influence peddling, and environmental degradation, it's obvious the banana is much more than a topping for breakfast cereal or a nutritious snack food. (AlterNet)
2/01	Draft Statement by WINFA on the EU's New Banana Regime -- Banana farmers in the Caribbean, plantation workers in Central America and Fair Trade operators in Europe continue to voice strong objections to the proposed new banana regime adopted by the Agricultural Council of the European Union. In particular there is general agreement that the proposed "First-come First-served" (FCFS) system for managing the regime will not be to the advantage of small farmers and independent operators. (WINFA)
1/26/01	Gunmen Kill Union Leader In Colombia -- Gunmen have shot and killed a union leader in a banana-growing region in northern Colombia, authorities said on Thursday. (New York Times)
1/19/01	Caricom Dismay at EU Banana Decision -- The Governments of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Georgetown on 12 January 2001 expressed their dismay at the decision of the Agriculture Council of the European Union to direct the Commission to prepare for a revised EU banana import regime based on the principle of 'First Come, First Served' (FCFS).
1/17/01	Citing European Banana Quotas, Chiquita Says Bankruptcy Looms -- Chiquita Brands International, the largest producer of bananas in the world and a household name in the United States, says it cannot pay its debts and will probably have to go into bankruptcy court because the Clinton administration has not been able to force the European Union to trade freely and fairly. (New York Times)
1/16/01	A Growing Industry Is All At Sea As Prices Start To Sink -- The new year has brought the best present in eight years to the workers of the Atlantic Banana Co-operative in Panama: a wages rise as they paid off the last penny of their start-up bank loan. (Financial Times)
1/15/01	Banana Producers Fight Curbs -- When the European Union handed down its new restrictions on banana imports in 1993, the three big US producers faced a critical decision: fight the system or work around it. (Financial Times)
1/3/01	Colombia Fears EU Banana Ruling Will Bring Fresh Violence -- Steamy Uraba, in a remote corner of Colombia's north-west, is famous for only two things: bananas and violence. (Financial Times)
12/29/00	Caribbean Seeks Trade Protection -- Caribbean banana exporting countries will seek the assistance of the outgoing Clinton administration to protect their preferential market in Europe, following an European Union decision to open the market, officials said on Thursday. (Financial Times)
12/00	Ecuador: Culprit and Victim in the Global Banana Crisis -- Ecuador's largest exporter is a national producer, Noboa, the world's fourth largest banana company. (US/LEAP)
11/20/00	Chiquita: Top Banana With Product Certification -- Chiquita has achieved certification for more than 71,000 acres of 127 company-owned farms in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, the company said. (Environmental News Network)
11/10/00	EU Makes New Banana Trade Proposal -- The European Commission is proposing changes in its controversial banana import system in an attempt to settle a dispute with the United States, Latin American producers and the World Trade Organization. (Associated Press)
9/27/00	Nicaragua Banana Workers May Sue International Firms -- They want to sue companies like the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, for producing the DBCP, and companies like Standard Fruit Company, Chiquita Brands International Inc. and Dole Food Co Inc., for using it, said Victorino Espinales, leader of the Association of Banana Workers and former Banana Workers. (Reuters)
8/30/00	Banana Talks Bear No Fruit For Central America -- Banana republics may lose their reputation for the fruit that gave them their nickname. (Financial Times)
5/18/00	Ecuador Gets WTO Nod on EU Sanctions -- World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries on Thursday gave Ecuador the green light to impose sanctions worth $201.6 million on imports from the European Union in a row over Brussels' banana regime. (Reuters)
2/7/00	How to Become a Top Banana -- When a fruit baron wanted to conquer more of the European market, he got Washington to launch a trade war for him. The victims of the cross fire? A bunch of ordinary Americans who never saw it coming. (Time magazine)
12/99	Oldest Union In Guatemala Under Attack; Central American Banana Unions In Jeopardy -- Two hundred armed men have forced Del Monte's Guatemalan union leadership and their families to flee for their lives, putting the future of the oldest union in Guatemala in doubt. The union was planning a walkout in mid-October to protest the illegal firings of 25% of the union's membership by Fresh Del Monte's Guatemalan subsidiary. (US/LEAP)
5/3/98	Chiquita SECRETS Revealed -- Hidden Control Crucial To Overseas Empire. Power, Money and Control; Violence & Drugs; Environment; Politics and History (large file, 290kb) (Cincinnati Enquirer)
3/98	Constructing Alternatives: Costa Rican Workers and the International Banana Trade -- (Global Pesticide Campaigner)
3/98	The Price of Bananas: the Banana Industry in Costa Rica -- (Global Pesticide Campaigner)
9/96	Busting Banana Unions in Belize: Irish Imperialism in Central America -- (Multinational Monitor)
9/96	Going Bananas In Central America. Toxic Bananas -- (Multinational Monitor)
1/91	Banana Development in Costa Rica -- (Multinational Monitor)