FINAL CONCLUSIONS

Sue Longley, IUF

I think, in fact, that this afternoon session has brought together the threads of the past two days very concretely and very clearly. We've had a lot of information. I thought that it was only the trade union movement which was riddled with initials, but we've been hearing about the WTO, the MAI, the ISO, Codex Alimentarius - all these new sets of initials! Gaining the information, though, presents new questions. I think all this has become clear with the questions in our discussion where we have touched on issues like "Would these be interpreted as more protectionist measures?", "Would they undermine existing International Labour Organisation Standards?" For me a question is: Would we give these organisations more legitimacy than they deserve, if we start to engage them? One of the questions that we've thought about for a long time in my organisation, the International Union for Food & Agricultural Workers (IUF), is whether we can realistically have an input into things like Codex Alimentarius, when we know that the transnationals with their huge resources are also there. If we don't do it, who will do it? Who will represent the voice of workers? Do we have the resources to actually put up a realistic argument to counter the technical expertise from the trans-nationals in those structures. I think that's a challenge we have to look at.

We have also had a lot of information about consumers' needs and buying patterns, and I think for those of us who are now in the process for the International Banana Conference, who attended the Production Seminar in Costa Rica, this is giving us a very good balance to the information that we received there, and it has given a very good process to build toward the International Banana Conference. I think here we have had a very honest discussion here about solutions and possible solutions. We've heard about Fair Trade in both forms - the alternative trading shops and the labelling approach, and the way of tackling the supermarkets and the big retailors. I think this discussion here has raised a lot of questions, but I feel from the response that we've had from the Fair Trade organisations that there will be a very frank discussion about future cooperation, and I'm very confident that we will find solutions to those problems.

I think one of the most interesting contributions was a suggestion not just about codes of conduct, but of codes of conduct as part of a whole range of solutions. And Alistair's contribution for me focused on what I think is very clear from these two days: that there isn't one single solution, that there are a number of instruments which we have to look at how best we use. I think, before we decide on which solution we go for, we have to be sure of the problems. We have to be sure that as people that live in the north, that we don't decide what the problems are, but that we find out from those who are on the ground. I think one of the things that gives this sort of seminar credibility is that we have representatives from the trade unions and the small farmers' organisations in the south, so that when we have the company's representatives come out with their real questions, it's not us who say, "well, we understand from what we’ve been told that it’s this situation", but it is the workers themselves from those companies who speak and very eloquently challenge the information that the companies, such as Del Monte, are trying to put out. I do not know really how those people can come and say that there are no problems if they've have never actually talked to people working in the banana sector.

And we have heard from Doris - very eloquently - about the housing problems in the plantations, and if you have ever visited a banana plantation, the stink of pesticides is for miles around. You don't have to be any sort of expert to realise the extent of the problem. But the basic - for me - the fundamental problem for the banana workers is lack of freedom of association.

Guilbert talked a little bit about Costa Rica, and I think it's a major challenge to look at the Costa Rican government. As far as I know, there are ten complaints about the Costa Rican government before the International Labour Organisation at the moment, and the government simply turns away. It doesn't take those complaints seriously. We were hoping that we would have with us at this meeting a representative from the Columbian banana worker's union. Columbia is one of the major problems for us as the IUF. A survey conducted last year by the International Confederation of the Free Trade Unions focused on Columbia and pointed out that at least eighty trade unionists were killed during 1997, and that many of them belonged to Center Agra, the agriculture workers' union of the banana region of Ureba. Those are horrible statistics, but a couple of years ago I was made, along with Guilbert and some other collegues, to actually feel the impact of those statistics. We went to a meeting of the ILO in Geneva and, on the fourth day of the conference, the ILO office in Geneva received a letter from our Columbian human rights office which mentioned that it was possible that the brother of one of the Columbian delegates had been assassinated. During the course of the morning we got confirmation that his brother had been assassinated. We'd been sitting three days discussing the banana workers's rights and here was somebody going through the real anguish of trying to build trade union rights in Colombia. Later on, he called home. It was his brother. We sat and discussed the situation. It was the fifth member of his family to be executed. This is beyond our reality. It is beyond our comprehension, but for banana workers in Columbia that's their day-to-day reality.

It's a sad note to finish on, but for me, trying to find solutions to those problems is a major challenge. I think what has become clear over these two days is that it is impossible to solve these problems on our own. In a global economy, none of us has the strength as consumers, workers' organisations or NGOs to find the solutions. What we need to do is to work in a broader alliance in the civil society. Each of us has a part in solving those problems and in building that alliance. I think that Arnd was right when he said that we need to concentrate on our aims, and through that concentration we can clearly identify who has the strength to tackle what problem and so find better solutions to those problems. From the trade union point of view, I want to say that we don't want anybody to do our job. We know that it's a major challenge to organise banana workers. We know that it is a major challenge to have good collective bargaining agreements. But it is a challenge that we will face as workers' organisations.

What I think should come out of this conference is that our role in building improved lifes for banana workers is recognised, and it is recognised as part of a broad alliance. The aim of fair trade should be to give worker's organisations and farmers the space they need to organise and to improve the conditions for their members. And I think in doing that we will see environmental improvements that benefits the work force globally. And we will see benefits for consumers when they'll get a more honest product, a better quality product - and so the benefits will come from all of us, from that broader alliance. I hope that sums up most of the threads of the conference. If I've missed any major points, I apologise: It's been a busy two days.