The Dole Flower Worker Justice Campaign

The struggle for justice at Splendor and Fragancia Plantations:  Victory at Last!

Left: Beatriz Fuentes, president of a Dole flower worker union, in her home talks in 2007 about conditions on plantations that were at the time owned by Dole.

2009 Update:  In early 2009, Dole sold its flower operations in Latin America, effectively bringing to an end the Dole Flower Worker Justice campaign.  Workers continue to try to organize unions in the Colombian flower sector, and USLEAP continues to provide support for their efforts.   The information below is provided as background.

Fragancia Summary:

On Dole's Fragancia flower plantation, workers formed an independent union, Untrafragancia, two years ago, coinciding with the formation of a company union at the farm. Untrafragancia claims wide representation on Dole's Fragancia plantation and moved into negotiations with the company in May of 2008.

In December 2005, the company-friendly union on the Fragancia flower plantation, Sinaltraflor, signed a two-year contract with Dole. Untrafragancia reports that this contract does not include any benefits for workers and may have been a step back from a prior agreement.

In late July, Sinaltraflor members distributed personalized
disaffiliation forms to all Untrafragancia affiliates in an attempt to
gain new members directly out of the Untrafragancia ranks. Each
Untrafragancia affiliate was urged to sign three documents: a
disaffiliation from Untrafragancia, a disaffiliation from Untraflores,
and an affiliation to Sinaltraflor.

As union membership lists are not publicly available, the
personalized paperwork suggests that Sinaltraflor may have acquired a
list from the company or the Ministry of Social Protection.

In late July, 2008, workers at the plantation finally signed a contract with Dole.  The contract includes raises for the workers, education subsidies for workers' children, and bonuses for dangerous or hazardous work, such as working in fumigations.  Congratulations to the Untrafragancia union and to everyone who supported them in this long process!

In early 2009, Dole sold its Latin American flower operations.  The contract with Unfragancia, and Sintraplendor, remain in effect.

Splendor Summary:

The most important worker organizing effort in the Colombian flower sector in the years was effectively crushed in 2006 and 2007 by the country’s largest flower owner and exporter, U.S.-based Dole when it closed most of the plantation operations and dismissed most of the workers. A small group is holding on at the remaining operations and finally signed a collective bargaining agreement in July 2008.

In November 2004, workers formed a union at Dole’s largest flower plantation and immediately faced an anti-union campaign that continued through 2005 and into 2006. The anti-union campaign culminated on October 12, 2006 when the company announced it would shut down most of the plantation operations. More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs. As Wal-Mart did in Canada in 2005, Dole cited profitability problems as its reason to shut down an operation in the middle of a union organizing drive. Ninety percent of Dole’s other Colombian plantations remain operational.

Dole Fresh Flowers, a subsidiary of the Dole Food Company, is the largest flower exporter and plantation owner in Colombia. In 2006, Dole controlled approximately 20% of Colombia’s flower production and exports, nearly all of which are flown to the U.S.

The experience of Dole workers who have been fighting to organize a union and gain a collective bargaining agreement on the largest flower plantation of the biggest flower company in Colombia is an important and timely case study in revealing the systematic denial of basic rights in Colombia’s flower industry.

The contract came after a long struggle with many losses, but shows potential for major changes in working conditions and respect for basic worker rights in the Colombian flower industry.