• Business and the environment

Business and the environment

Since the 1960’s, pineapple production has quadrupled and export has tripled worldwide. While profits for some have tremendously expanded under such development, this report demonstrates how pineapple workers, their families and communities, and the environment in the largest pineapple producing nations have not enjoyed the benefits of such growth. It finds that labour rights abuses, inhumane working conditions, and environmental degradation have plagued the industry around the world.

Increased corporate control in export supply chains has prevented small farmers and workers in pineapple producing countries from sharing in the products’ growing revenue. Dole and Del Monte, through their subsidiaries, compete as the largest global suppliers of both fresh and processed pineapple as both operate plantations, distribution centers, and processing facilities all over the world. Dole and Del Monte have also been expanding their operations through the purchasing and leasing of new land for pineapple production.

The major labor and environmental abuses documented in the report are as follows:

• pineapple plantation and processing workers work long hours. On average they work 10-12 hours a day, six days a week, often in the hot sun. Work without overtime pay compels workers to work longer in order to make a meagre living
• the instability and seasonal nature of the work forces workers to maximise their income when the work is available, thus putting their safety at risk.
• freedom of association and right to collective bargaining have been blatantly violated. Union leaders have been systematically fired and laid off to obliterate any union presence in pineapple production.
• Dole Philippines has been able to evade its responsibilities to its workers by replacing the majority of its regular workforce with contract labour from “labor cooperatives.” Approximately 77% of workers producing pineapple supplied to Dole are contract laborers and cannot be in the union representing regular workers.
• contract workers systematically earn less than directly employed, regular workers as a result of production quota systems or piece-rate based remuneration and the lack of ability to engage in collective bargaining. They are denied most of the basic labor rights and social benefits granted to regular workers. Most women working in the industry are contract workers.
• workers are frequently exposed to toxic chemicals through pesticides and fertilizers such as endosulfan. Companies do not always provide proper protective gear and family members or workers are frequently exposed to the chemicals when laundry is done at home
• pineapple industry expansion has threatened communities and the natural environment in areas of cultivation and processing. Agrochemicals have contaminated the water supplies in pineapple growing regions

• companies in the pineapple supply chain follow all national and international labour laws; take a positive, public position in support of legal restrictions on the abuse of short term contract labour and dispatched labour schemes
• respect workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
• introduce fair production quotas and fair wages
• provide protective equipment to guard against agrochemicals and reduce chemical use
• the governments should grant equal rights to temporary, contingent, or contract workers in regards to remuneration, workday, rights to join a union and receive social benefits, and any other rights granted to regular workers

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