"Race to the Bottom"

The race to the bottom in the banana industry is attributed primarily to overproduction in the industry, increased competition in European markets, and consolidating supermarket chains that demand ever lower prices, prompting transnational banana companies to cut costs and reverse historic gains that have been made by banana unions in Central America and Colombia.

These forces have prompted a "race to the bottom" for worker rights, wages, benefits, and working conditions. In recent years, Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita have all cut jobs, wages and benefits, and closed plantations.

Banana production is being concentrated in low-wage, non-union Ecuador and the low-wage, non-union Pacific coast of Guatemala, putting on pressure to lower wages and working conditions on union plantations elsewhere. West Africa and other regions are also expected to increase low-wage, non-union competition.

An International Banana Conference was held April 28-30, 2005 in Brussels, Belgium to address the race to the bottom. Documents produced for the conference, and available on the conference website, analyze the race to the bottom and make recommendations for responses.  In preparation for the Brussels conference, USLEAP and the International Union of Foodworkers organized a preparatory conference held in Washington, DC, hosted by the AFL-CIO.