Banana giant Chiquita Brands has fired its workers in Panama who have been out on strike for more than three weeks as part of nationwide protests against reforms to the social security system.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had said earlier Thursday that the strike was illegal and included some 5,000 workers.
“Unfortunately, following the unjustified abandonment of work at our plantations and operations centers since April 28 and continuing today, (the company) has proceeded with the termination of all of our daily workers,” the company said in a statement. It said the company had suffered losses of at least $75 million.
Protests marches and occasional roadblocks have stretched from one end of the country to the other as teachers, construction workers and other unions expressed their rejection to changes the government said were necessary to keep the social security system solvent.
“We don’t know how to talk to (union) leader Francisco Smith about the enormous damage his intransigence is causing the Bocas del Toro job sector,” Mulino said. Bocas del Toro is Panama’s westernmost province and borders Costa Rica.
Not to pick tooo much on CEOs (they are so hardworking after all, I am inspired every time I think about all the labor they have stolen from me!), but it sounds like a CEO skill issue here.
Sorry, had my Dole goggles on, all I could see was money and I became disoriented for a second.
Why do I feel like every time when I put these Dole goggles on, when I take them off I am always digging shallow graves for piles of bodies for some reason?
I buy bananas all the time. Bananas are dirt cheap and I imagine they are dirt cheap because the labor costs are so low. I feel like I will be financially okay if I had to pay an extra dollar for a bundle of bananas.