Despite its environment-friendly reputation as the world's largest exporter of organic bananas, the Dominican Republic's treatment of banana workers is being called into question.
Fairtrade body Banana Link claims 90 per cent of the country’s workers are from neighbouring earthquake stricken Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. It claims they earn only $6.50 (around £4) a day; substantially less than Dominican workers.
“They don't have enough to cover the costs of living. And have no way of getting a higher salary to buy a visa or passport so there is no power to negotiate with plantation owners," says Padre Regino Martinez, director of Asomilin (Solidarity Association of Migrant Workers in the Northwest Region).
New Government proposals suggest at least 80 per cent of a firm's employees must be Dominican. Government officials have said this will 'regularise' the workforce and ensure Haitians were legal citizens in the country.
However, new legislation requiring Dominican Republic employers to regularise their illegal employees doesn't convince Banana Link.
“This legislation (Law 285-04) is not new, but the political will to implement this law and sanction those who do not comply with it is. This is potentially very good news. However, if employers fail to comply and ensure their workers have legal status, or if family members of regularised workers are not included, then thousands of Haitian migrant workers could be forcibly deported,” said Alistair Smith, international coordinator of Banana Link.
Smith hopes wider media coverage of the workers plight could help the situation. He added: “The hope is that wider coverage will help to involve local trade unions, Haitian associations and UN organisations like the International Organisation of Migration and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This would ensure that the government will be flexible in its enforcement strategy and not simply send people back across the border into abject poverty.”
The Dominican Republic is currently the UK’s second biggest banana supplier, but with only 25 per cent of its production certified Fairtrade.
For more on this story check out our analysis on Page 12 in the next issue of FPJ.
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