Certifying agencies and corporations have twisted the original idea, adapting it to their demands
With Didier Leitón
We need to bring back
the true spirit of Fair Trade
the true spirit of Fair Trade
Certifying agencies and corporations have twisted the original idea, adapting it to their demands and stripping it of its meaning
Didier Leitón Valverde is general secretary of the Union of Agricultural Plantation Workers (SITRAP) and assistant coordinator of the National Federation of Agroindustry and Related Industry Workers (FENTRAG). In conversation with La Rel, the Costa Rican union leader harshly criticized the behavior of certifying agencies, which have distorted and corrupted the spirit of Fair Trade.
-What is the main focus of Fair Trade and how has it been developing in Costa Rica?
-Fair Trade was born as a movement and a development project at the service of small producers and workers.
In Costa Rica we saw it as an alternative to overcome poverty and improve the wages and socio-economic conditions of the people who work on banana and pineapple plantations.
Together with the Latin American Coordinating Body of Banana Trade Unions (COLSIBA) we have been supporting and promoting this idea and working so that small, medium-sized and large producers guarantee human, labor, workers’ and environmental rights and honor collective bargaining agreements.
We have even encouraged European and U.S. consumer groups to support this initiative and pay extra for each crate of bananas or pineapples exported, an extra price that is intended to improve living conditions.
Sadly, this is all being left increasingly in the past and the original idea behind Fair Trade has been emptied of meaning and turned into something purely commercial. Certifying agencies are much to blame for that.
-What happened exactly?
-They sold the world the idea that these certifications represent a major change in the plantations’ social responsibility. But that’s a complete lie.
They have turned it into something merely commercial, a way of whitewashing a company’s or an industry’s image, while the working conditions of banana and pineapple laborers have continued unchanged.
These certifying agencies, like Fairtrade International (FLO), SA 8000, and Rainforest Alliance, have shifted their approach towards a corporate and competitive vision. They have turned into organizations that live off the money these companies pay them for their certifications, and that money comes from the starvation wages the companies pay their workers..
Sadly, these social responsibility standards end up legitimizing poor working and labor conditions in agroindustry.
-Can you mention a specific case?
-The pineapple companies El Bosque, owned by Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A. (Dole), and Finca Saint Peter, owned by Del Monte, have obtained several certifications, but the degree of labor and union harassment [in those companies] is very high.
We presented numerous reports documenting the situation in those plantations, but the certifying agencies ignored us and went ahead and certified them.
But, apart from those cases, it’s hard to find companies in Costa Rica that truly observe labor laws and international conventions and that thus guarantee trade union freedom and collective bargaining rights.
Many are certified and continue to enjoy that extra price, or reward, for each banana or pineapple crate exported to Europe or the United States, which, of course, is hardly ever invested to improve the living conditions and the rights of workers.
-Where does FENTRAG stand on the issue of Fair Trade?
-Fair Trade is important and should not be eliminated. On the contrary, it should be strengthened and we should continue to promote it, but we need to rescue it from the clutches of certifying agencies and national and international fruit companies.
COLSIBA and Rel-UITA need to mobilize to bring back the original idea and the true spirit behind it.
Photo: Giorgio Trucchi