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Dear John,

 

I’m proud to announce two important updates on the Honduran melon workers’ fight for fundamental labor rights at Fyffes.  

 

On September 18th, the worker members of the farmworker union El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS) released a new report that documents the ongoing violations of fundamental labor rights, including violations of health and safety, refusal of access to government-mandated social security, workplace harassment, and violations of freedom of association and their demands for justice. We were proud to join them in publishing this report. 

The new report, Honduran Melon Workers Fight to Grow Justice at Fyffes Farms, shows that while workers have made meaningful gains in this long fight, violations of fundamental labor rights persist. It offers concrete recommendations aimed at decision-makers to guarantee enforcement of Honduran labor law and respect for workers' fundamental labor rights. The report is currently available in Spanish, with an English version coming soon.

 

On the same day, GLJ was also proud to launch with STAS, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), UFCW Canada and Danish union 3F the new Growing Justice website, which details Honduran melon workers’ fight for good jobs and a union on #Fyffes farms. 

“For nearly a decade, the predominantly women seasonal farmworkers who plant, harvest, and pack melons for Fyffes in Choluteca, Honduras, have been courageously fighting against child labor, unsafe working conditions, gender-based violence and harassment, and discrimination,” said Tomas Memberño, organizing secretary of STAS. “The melon workers have demanded respect for their fundamental labor rights including improved occupational safety and health, job security, protections for women workers, wage increases, and collective bargaining.”

 

“We need job security, clean drinking water, shade, and decent wages, and we are prepared to continue fighting until we win”, said worker leader Felipa Santos, 26 seasons with Fyffes.

 

“We have seen that Fyffes’ parent company, Sumitomo, can work productively with independent trade unions as they have done in Canada,” wrote IUF General Secretary Sue Longley in the forward of the report, referring to the migrant farmworkers at Sumitomo subsidiary Highline Mushrooms who recently won union recognition with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada. “If advancing workers’ rights within the collective bargaining framework is possible in Canada, it is also possible in Honduras,” she concluded.

 

As we head into the 2024/2025 growing season, there is an urgent need for Fyffes to respect workers’ fundamental rights.

 

“GLJ joined farmworker members of IUF-affiliated unions from across the globe to transmit a simple message to Fyffes and Sumitomo: we will fight one day longer than whatever it takes to win justice on Fyffes’ farms,” said GLJ Field Director Jacob Horwitz at the virtual launch of the website last week, which that brought together union leaders from around the world. 


Learn more about the Fyffes’ workers' fight and get the latest report on the new website. 

 

We will continue to support the 6,500 farm workers in winning an independent union at Fyffes.

 

Together, we will win justice on Fyffes’ farms.

 

In solidarity,

Sandra Mendoza
Lead Organizer, Global Labor Justice
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