Dole Flower Workers Claim Majority; Another Union Wins Registration

The growing campaign against Dole Fresh Flowers is moving into a new stage as the Untrafragancia union at Dole’s Fragancia flower plantation lays the groundwork for negotiations with the company this winter. Dole continues its efforts to thwart the union, however, and the battle is far from won.

	Lydia Lópes, President of Asoflores, with Charity Ryerson, USLEAP Program Coordinator, at the SOAW vigil in Colombus, Georgia in November 2007. Lydia was in the US on speaking tour with Witness for Peace.

Management at the plantation recently sent a letter to workers announcing that Sinaltraflor, an industry friendly union that is backing the Colombian Free Trade Agreement, had 119 affiliates and Untrafragancia had 159, out of a total of 390 workers.

According to Untrafragancia's count, the union had enough affiliates to qualify for sole negotiations with the company.

Both the company and the union are now calling on the Ministry of Social Protection to hold a union census at the plantation.

The Untraflores union at the Santa Barbara flower plantation, Asoflores, achieved a major victory in October when it was legally recognized by the Colombian government. The union registration had been denied four times. The registration was finally approved on October 23rd. Lydia López, the president of Asoflores, was on tour this fall with Witness for Peace.

Lydia participated in a workshop on flower worker organizing with USLEAP at the School of the Americas Watch Protest in November.

The embattled union at the Bochica Farms plantation in Antioquia, Colombia received another blow in November when local authorities revoked the union’s registration. Since its inception in January 2007, the union has faced arbitrary firings, death threats, management intimidation and harassment, and lack of cooperation from local government entities.