Colombia

Banana workers vote

in favor of strike

Massive participation at the 296 Urabá plantations

 

 

Call for strike receives the support of 99.37 percent of all workers, with 13,946 votes in favor.

 

The national assembly of delegates will now ratify the decision adopted by the workers and will declare the strike at midnight tonight, paralyzing activities in every plantation in the region.

 

Banana crops represent 30 percent of Colombia’s agricultural exports (excluding coffee), competing for first place with flowers.

 

Banana crops for export occupy 1.5 percent of Colombia’s permanently cultivated land, and banana production contributes with 6.3 percent of the country’s agricultural GDP, generating nearly 37 thousand direct jobs and 111 thousand indirect jobs, in particular in the departments of Antioquia and Magdalena.

The European Union is the main destination of the country’s banana exports, and the volume of exports to that destination is growing despite the problems caused by access restrictions. In 2007, these exports generated 385.2 million dollars and 73 percent of the product was exported to the European Union, as compared to 56.5 percent at the beginning of the decade. 

 

 

  

From Apartadó, Luis Guillermo Sánchez

Rel-UITA

        April 23, 2009

 

 

 

 

Negociación Convenio Colectivo 2009

 

 

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