Proposed strike action by banana industry workers on 288 plantations in Colombia has apparently been averted at the eleventh hour after they reached a new two-year employment deal with industry officials.
Members of the trade union Sintrainagro are understood to have achieved the breakthrough in the early hours of Wednesday morning during talks with leaders of trade association Augura.
A sizeable proportion of the 230,000-plus boxes of bananas exported from the region of Urabà in the north of Colombia every day are shipped to Europe, with around one-third sold in the UK, and North America.
Fears had been raised two weeks ago that the planned strike action would lead to a significant shortage of fruit in the European market.
The new deal, which is reported to include a 4 per cent wage increase this year followed by a subsequent rise in line with inflation next year, is set to be finalised by the end of this week and will also give workers improved support in areas inluding healthcare and education.
According to Alistair Smith, international coordinator at industry pressure group Banana Link, the negotiations were 'no doubt' complicated by factors beyond the current peso-dollar exchange rate and productivity problems in Urabá.
'At least one British supermarket continues to sell bananas below their cost price,' he observed. 'The fact is that retailers are applying downward pressure when prices are revised, challenging the ability for these to reflect real costs of production including payment of living wages.'
He added: 'Retailers who have led the last decade of futile price wars should now understand that the lower they push prices the less likely they are to be able to fulfil their commitments to ensure living wages are paid in their supply chains. We hope that the threat of shortage will finally focus the mind of those who make decisions on banana pricing.'
