Irish produce company Fyffes has been suspended from its membership of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), the UK multi-stakeholder partnership aimed at improving conditions in agricultural and manufacturing supply chains.
The ETI said the decision of its board on 4 May follows a probe into allegations by local unions that Fyffes abused workers on plantations in Central America.
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According to the ETI, evidence submitted by all parties involved upheld “key aspects of the complaint, deeming them substantive and robust”. The ETI said a Fyffes remediation plan “failed to fully address the issues raised”.
Fyffes now has 90 days to work with the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) “to reach a mutually agreeable framework for engagement”, the ETI said. “Failure to do this… would result in expulsion from ETI membership.”
ETI executive director Peter McAllister said: “Labour rights issues can be complex. With many different parties, and often across different cultures, there is frequently room for different interpretations and genuine ambiguity.”
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“However, there is one constant for ETI that has been at the heart of the dispute between IUF, Banana Link and Fyffes with respect to the Suragroh operations in Honduras; workers should be able to enjoy their right to be represented by those they choose and so engage with management,” McAllister said. “Fyffes’ suspension from ETI, whilst not a decision that has been taken lightly, offers a focused and time-bound opening to grasp the opportunity that such engagement represents.”
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By GlobalDataA Fyffes spokesperson could not be contacted for comment by just-food at the time of this article being published.
In February 2016, just-food reported on claims from UK union the GMB, which alleged 14 female workers on a melon plantation in Honduras had to go to hospital after being “poisoned by the noxious chemicals they were forced to handle without any personal protective equipment”.
