Company has been unable to export more than 900,000 boxes of bananas due to the strike
Chiquita announced Monday that it has suspended part of its banana production in a northwestern Panamanian province as a nationwide workers’ strike against a pension reform enters its third week.
The company said in a statement that the stoppage has affected banana plantations and that, for this reason, it decided to cease cultivation and shipping operations on at least three farms in the province of Bocas del Toro, bordering Costa Rica.
It did not specify how many hectares of banana cultivation those three farms represent or the number of workers who would be laid off with the suspension. According to data provided by the government last year, Chiquita operates 5,000ha of banana plantations in Panama – mainly in Bocas del Toro – generating around 6,000 direct jobs.
The company reported on Friday that more than 900,000 boxes of bananas had already been unable to be exported due to the strike, and that it had already racked up losses exceeding US$10mn. It has urged workers to return to work on the farms.
