Protest Dole’s Unfair and Unsafe Labor Practices on Banana Plantations

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Source: Force Change

Target: Dole Food Company

Goal: To protest Dole’s unsafe and unfair labor practices on its banana plantations

How much do you know about where your produce comes from? The majority of bananas are produced in Latin and South America, and Dole Food Company controls the majority of the market. But are you aware of the amount of suffering that goes into producing a bunch of bananas?

Dole is notorious for a string of human rights violations. The average worker at a Dole plant earns a wage which just barely keeps them at the poverty line in most countries. Many of these workers are exposed to dangerous pesticides as well. Workers in Nicaragua have been exposed to chemicals which were banned in the United States. Many of these workers are now sterile due to these chemicals. These workers were also cheated out of their two billion dollar compensation, after a case that appears to be littered with bribery and fraud. If these pesticides are so dangerous to the workers, why do we want to be eating these fruits ourselves or serving them to our children?

Dole has also been linked to cases where workers were intimidated and harassed by military organizations. Any type of union activity is also banned, and the education that children receive forbids any mention of unions. In some cases, union activists have been murdered. Is widespread violence really necessary just to produce a bunch of bananas?

The banana plantations have also employed child laborers, some as young as age eight. Like their adult counterparts, these children are exposed to dangerous pesticides and not compensated for their overtime.

Dole claims that they have worked to change some of the working conditions on the plantations. But evidence points to the contrary. In 2009, a filmmaker exposed what goes on behind the scenes at many banana plantations. However, Dole did everything they could to prevent this film from showing including suing the filmmaker for defamation.  Eventually, Bananas! was allowed to be shown, but it is still known as “The movie that Dole doesn’t want you to see”.

Clearly, the Dole Food Company needs to be called out on its dangerous practices. Let Dole know that you don’t support child labor, dangerous pesticide use or unfair working conditions by contacting the head of the Board of Directors, David Murdock.



See More: Human Rights

dole, trying doling out the treatment you would like to receive.
be a company in who we can believe!!!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson