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COLSIBA

Home » Trade Unions » COLSIBA

Coordinating Unions in Latin America

COLSIBA, the Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agro-industrial Unions, was founded in 1993. It functions at a regional level in all countries that produce and market bananas, pineapples and sugar. It has members in:

  • Peru
  • Ecuador
  • Colombia
  • Panama
  • Costa Rica
  • Nicaragua
  • Honduras
  • Guatemala
  • El Salvador

Due to its coordinating nature, COLSIBA adopts a structure that is horizontal and operational; a coordinating committee of two representatives (one man and one woman) of each member organization plus a political committee, a women’s committee, an occupational health and safety committee and a coordinator and sub-coordinator. The largest event is the COLSIBA bi-annual conference.

Background

COLSIBA fights to preserve and be an advocate for the respect of labour, union and human rights, and specifically issues for women workers. It provides a space for meetings and coordination between unions from each country in the region. The union affiliates work collectively to better manage information on the world banana market and to strengthen ties with fraternal organizations and institutions that support different regional initiatives such as campaigns and protests and generate a space for dialogue and analysis to tackle the labour issues within the Latin American banana and agricultural industry.

COLSIBA seek to improve freedom of association and collective bargaining, in accordance with the rules and agreements of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The formation of trade union organizations in many banana plantations, tropical fruit plantations and sugar cane plantations still is an ongoing struggle – trade union activity is still repressed, and sometimes threatens the personal safety of those who do practise it.

Despite great efforts to resolve the labour problems in the agricultural regions, more support is needed in the face of the enormity of existing problems.

Twenty-eight years of COLSIBA

In May 2021 COLSIBA celebrated twenty-eight years of fighting for the rights of plantation workers throughout Latin America. Trade union activity has always been, and still remains, a dangerous task, as it is repressed in many countries- sometimes even violently. However, due to their passion and determination, COLSIBA has survived, and achieved so much for the hundreds of thousands of workers they represent. Whilst originally founded to tackle labor violations, they now also provide education, training, and campaigns, and have become internationally recognised by transnational companies and organisations for their efforts.

Read More

COLSIBA condemns the rainforest alliance

COLSIBA has written to seven of the biggest supermarkets in The UK and Germany to inform them of the shortcoming of the Rainforest Alliance certification that supermarkets continue to rely on as a guarantee of ethical standards. Banana Link supports this fully as in 2016 we highlighted the lack of freedom to join a union, and weaknesses in the system allowing producers to pay workers less than the living wage. Despite efforts from Banana Link and other trade unions, the Rainforest Alliance refused to make improvements to these sectors, showing their lack of capacity and political will to ensure human and labor rights. The letter sent by COLSIBA is available to read in the article that follows.

Read More

Colsiba resources

Iris Munguia, Coordinator, COLSIBA (the Regional Coordination of Latin American Banana & Agro-Industrial Workers’ Unions) talks to Banana Link about the importance of international support to the mainly women workers facing labour rights violations at subsidiaries of Fyffes in Honduras.

In this interview, trade union activist Iris Munguia describes how lack of respect for workers’ labour rights is widespread in Latin America, especially where there are no unions. Abuses include long working hours, low wages, discrimination and sexual harassment.

More on Our Work with Trade Unions ...


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