Dole response to 2009 report on labour & human rights issues in Latin America
6 November 2009
In October 2009, a coalition of labour groups and NGOs published “Dole… Behind the Smoke-screen… What is new since our report on the company’s plantations in Latin America in 2006?” [PDF], a follow-up to the coalition’s 2006 report.
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Dole to respond. Its response follows:
“One of the criticisms expressed in 2006 was that there was a lack of dialogue between Dole and the unions in some of the countries in which we operate. It is my understanding that the new report recognizes that Dole has engaged into a dialogue with all trade union organizations. In some countries, like in Peru, this dialogue has led to successful negotiations. In some other countries, like in Costa Rica, this dialogue has not always contributed to have both parties agree on reasonable objectives to be achieved.
All the allegations posted in the 2006 report, when referring to Dole farms or farms producing for Dole (some of the farms mentioned did not actually produce for Dole) have been discussed with our local stakeholders on the ground in order to identify the real problems and to implement corrective actions, if necessary.
Dole will continue its dialogue with the union organizations in the countries in which we operate. As an illustration, our Costa Rican division met again with representatives from COSIBA-CR and COLSIBA as soon as the follow-up report was published. The Company offered to review some of its practices in order to further demonstrate that Dole complies with freedom of association and in particularly freedom of 'unionization'. Both parties also agreed to renew efforts in order to continue working together according to the terms of the framework agreement signed in 2007.”