US Trade Programs Benefit Colombian Flower Sector

ATPA
The Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) provides trade benefits to selected exports from Andean countries.  It was created as a development strategy to provide incentives for Andean countries to produce non-traditional exports for the U.S. market.  The program has also been supported as providing a market alternative to the growing of coca, and was expanded in 2002 as the Andean Trade Partnership and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA).

ATPA on Congressional Agenda
In early 2008, Congress provided a short-term extension of ATPA benefits through the end of the year, until December 31, 2008.

ATPA and Flowers
Under ATPA, cut flowers receive duty-free access to the U.S. market.  ATPA has been credited with the growth of the cut flower export industry in Colombia and Ecuador, now the two largest exporters of flowers to the U.S.  ATPA has also been blamed for speeding the loss of virtually all cut flower jobs in the U.S., primarily in California.
In 2005, the customs value for flowers exported under ATPA was nearly $418 million from Colombia and $129 million from Ecuador.  Flower exports from both countries increased in 2006, with an 8% increase from Colombia and a 10% increase from Ecuador, based on November 2006 figures.

ATPA and Worker Rights
Under ATPA, exporting countries are required by law to be “taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights....” 
Ecuador’s ATPA trade benefits have been “under review” (i.e. on probation) since 2003 when worker rights petitions filed by Human Rights Watch, the AFL-CIO, and USLEAP were accepted by the U.S. Trade Representative.  Supplementary petitions were filed by Human Rights Watch and USLEAP in 2004 and 2005, and the review remains on-going.
The worker rights situation is even worse in Colombia, where more trade unionists are murdered each year than in the rest of the world combined (see Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia, released by the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center and available on-line at www.solidaritycenter.org.)

Congress, Dole and Flower Worker Rights
In November, 2006, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Barbara Lee, and Rep. Linda Sanchez wrote to Dole to express concerns about the lack of worker rights in the Colombian flower industry, particularly with respect to Dole’s decision to close its largest flower plantation in the face of the most important union organizing drive in five years.   The letter expressed doubts about the wisdom of extending ATPA benefits.  Dole responded by denying any violations and claiming its strong support for core worker rights--as well as its support for retaining ATPA benefits.