Yet all the great programs of the union can not change the fact that
work on the banana plantation is brutally hot and dangerous. SITRABI
members receive a little more than Guatemala’s minimum wage, about $6
US a day.  They may also live on the plantation's small houses (shared
between two often large
families) rent and utilities free.  There is a school and daycare for
the children, healthcare facilities, and a small pension for retirees.

The members of SITRABI have a good relationship with their employer,
Del Monte, but highly complex issues that workers have little influence
over could soon affect their jobs.  Banana trees can be moved from
Guatemala plantations to take advantage of cheaper (and un-unionized)
labor in South American countries like Brazil or Ecuador. Complex
international trade policies have encouraged some companies to go to
Africa.

Without their jobs, SITRABI members will share the same fate as the
majority of Guatemalans.  Eighty percent of the population lives in
poverty.  This kind of destitution fuels migration.  Currently,
remittances to Guatemala from immigrant family members in the US make
up more than its exports.   

Recently, with a decrease in demand and production, SITRABI members had
little choice but to support a new contract Del Monte signed with
Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, it has increased the number of bananas that
workers must box per hour—from 30 to 44—but with no additional pay.
This is beyond the capability of some, mostly older women, workers.
The union reports that this year, 90 of the members who lost their
jobs, took their severance pay and immigrated to the US.

In addition to hard work, poverty and low pay, violence is a part of
daily life for unionist in Guatemala.  As recently as 1999, five
SITRABI leaders were kidnapped and tortured by a town mob (some of whom
were identified as working for the company) when trying to organize a
strike protesting the lay-off of over 900 workers.  Last January, Pedro
Zamora was killed while driving home with his two young sons.  Zamora,
General Secretary of the Port Workers Union (STPEQ), was leading a
campaign to stop the government’s plan to restructure the Port of
Quetzal.  And two vendor union leaders were fatally shot on February 6,
2007.  No arrests have been made.

The U.S. had the opportunity with CAFTA to strengthen worker
protections and better conditions for Guatemala but failed.  The trade
agreement could have compelled signing countries, including Guatemala,
to adopt basic workers’ protection laws established under United
Nations and International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions.  But
CAFTA only requires countries to enforce their own labor laws—laws
judged by the ILO as weak and inadequate to protect workers.

In the midst of immigration battle in this country, it’s important to
look at what drives people to risk their lives, tear their families
apart, and gamble all the money they have, to come to the US.  Some of
it is poverty but some of it is horrendous exploitation, ignored, and
sometime supported, by our own trade policies and corporations. Good
jobs and protections for workers guaranteed by a fair trade policy
would allow workers to support their families, wherever they live.