Comment: Ecuador’s banana industry rejects report on workers’ rights

The members of the Banana and Plantain Exporters and Growers Cluster of Ecuador - AEBE, Acorbanec, Agroban, the Chamber of Agriculture of the Second Zone, Asoexpla, and the Commission for the Associativity of Small Producers, with the participation of the following associations: Fincas El Oro, Producción y Vida, Oro Verde, Asoproabacao, Tierra Fértil, San Miguel de Brasil, Asoguabo, and Asoprorey – that represent about 100 per cent of banana exports, 60 per cent of banana farming, 80 per cent of plantain exports and 1,200 small producers; address this letter to you regarding your article published on 6 June 2025, titled ’Banana workers face ‘worsening crisis’, says new report’.

The article refers to the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index, and mentions that Ecuador is in the report’s top ten worst countries for workers in 2025. We, as representatives of this industry are deeply concerned by this assertion as this report covers several matters and misrepresents the reality of the banana industry. Additionally, all the information and news from the referenced links are from previous decades, not being representative of the developments of the Ecuadorian banana industry.

The banana industry of Ecuador has been making great efforts and major results have already been confirmed in different topics regarding social sustainability as we state:

Child labour eradication

Ecuador has established regulatory and non-regulatory measures to eradicate child’s labor and promote universal education – Ecuador’s total net enrolment rate reached 96.30 per cent in 2022 as reported by Unesco’s Sustainable Development Goals – with enforcement and control mechanisms. As a result, child’s labour’s rate in Ecuador, which is inversely related to total net enrolment rate, has trended significantly downward since 2002.

This downward trend has been, particularly, observed in banana plantation areas where child labour has been eradicated. The report ‘Findings on Worst Forms of Child Labor’ by the International Labor Affairs Bureau of the United States Department of Labor, places Ecuador among the countries that are advancing in their ambitions to eradicate child labour.

This report has further information regarding public policies and nationally adopted measures. Companies from the private sector develop social programmes and, collectively, represented by the guilds of the industry, take part in projects led by the Network of Companies for an Ecuador Free of Child Labor, under the National Plan for the Prevention and Progressive Child Labour Erradication in Ecuador – PETI.

Among PETI’s advances from 2017 to 2021, it is worth highlighting:

• 11,319 verifications and labour inspections focused on different branches and economic sectors were carried out nationally
• 1,101 technical assistance programmes directed at local governments were carried out under the threshold of the Child Labor Eradication Project
• 20 local government laws for Child Labor Eradication were approved by different local governments nationally
• 90 companies located in Pichincha, Azuay and Guayas were permanent members of the Network for an Ecuador Free of Child Labor

Living wage

A. The living wage is a legal and constitutional requirement in Ecuador

Employers in Ecuador are required, legally and constitutionally, to adhere to the living wage policy, by which employers are obliged to pay a living wage to their workers for a standard 40 hours work week. This is unique in Latin America.

i. The living wage, which covers the basic needs of the worker and his or her family, is part of the right to fair remuneration established in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador.

ii. Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Código Orgánico de la Producción, Comercio e Inversiones; which establishes rules for local production, international trade and investment; further develop the concept of a living wage, its components, and mechanisms for its efficacy.

B. The minimum wage is not set arbitrarily

The minimum wage is set based on a fundamental commitment to social justice. The minimum wage is not subject to economic fluctuations, but is rather set as a fundamental right. The minimum wage is set each year as the result of negotiations between employer’s representatives and workers’ representatives in the Salary Council led by the Ministry of Labor of Ecuador.

i. In 2023; Marcela Arellano from the Unitary Front of Workers, Mesías Tatamuez from the Ecuadorian Confederation of Unitary Classist Organizations of Workers, Edwin Salazar from the Unitary Central of Workers, Oswaldo Chica from the Confederation of Public Sector Workers of Ecuador, Paúl Corral from the National Federation of Chambers of Industries of Ecuador, Xavier Rosero from Fedexpor, Tania Pazmiño from the National Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Ecuador, Francisco Chiriboga from the Chamber of Agriculture of the First Zone and, as substitute representatives for workers: Oscar Moreira, Luis Cherrez, Cristobal Buendia and Juan Carlos Coral, and, for employers: Luis Poveda, Jose Antonio Hidalgo, Luis Romero and Carlos Alberto Mayorga; are members of the Salary Council that determine the minimum wage for 2024.

C. Ecuador’s minimum wage surpasses the living wage set by the Global Living Wage Coalition

The total wage of a worker in Ecuador (minimum wage + benefits) surpasses the living wage threshold established by the Global Living Wage Coalition and Anker Research Institute. Workers’ income may increase depending on voluntary benefits and other mandatory benefits given by companies such as: 1) Performance or quality bonuses; 2) Workers profit sharing of 15 per cent of companies revenues; 3) In kind benefits which lower worker’s expenses such as food, transportation and other services.

D. Independent reports certify compliance with advanced labour rights standards

Compliance with the living wage in the banana sector of Ecuador has been recognised by international organisations and certifiers:

i. The Summary Report on the Salary Analysis of Ecuadorian Workers in Banana Plantations Linked to the German Market, carried out by the GIZ, found that 99.36 per cent of the workers involved in the analysis received a living wage. Of the 5,932 workers included in the Wage Analysis, farms reported that an average of only 39 workers (0.66 per cent) earned less than a living wage.

ii. An independent report by the Rainforest Alliance confirms the same results and exempts compliant farmers from providing additional information on living wages under the certification scheme.

iii. FairTrade, within the multi-stakeholders sessions organised by the World Banana Forum during Fruit Attraction 2023, stated that, according to its analysis, Ecuador complies with the living wage.

E. Living Wage Compliance Official Verification

The Ministry of Labor of Ecuador can carry out an ‘Official Verification of Compliance with the Living Wage’ to verify that workers receive a living wage. This verification has been requested by the banana sector, even though the private sector is subject to annual evaluations, scrutiny and inspections by the country’s labour authorities, as an additional procedure to verify compliance with the living wage in accordance with the requirements of international markets. Workers’ associations formally established in Ecuador have expressed their support for the verification process.

Health and safety in the banana industry

In May 2018, Ecuador became the first country to publish an Occupational Health and Safety Manual as part of the Bohesi initiative pilot project in collaboration with FAO’s World Banana Forum, workers organisations, and private sector. The guide aims to promote a culture of risk prevention and control through training of employers and workers in the banana sector.

On 16 May 2018, the Ministry of Labor of Ecuador by the Ministerial Agreement MDT-2018-0108 established that the Occupational Health and Safety Manual for banana plantations would be mandatory.

In 2023, growers and exporters representatives participated jointly with worker’s organisations and authorities, under the leadership of FAO’s World Banana Forum in working groups to update the Occupational Health and Safety Manual for banana plantations.

Freedom of association

According to the sustainability assessment of the banana sector carried by UC Davis, Ecuadorian legislation guarantees freedom of workers for constituting organisations.

Ecuador’s Labour Law recognises different kinds of worker’s organisations such as trade unions, committees and other kinds of associations, which can assemble into federations and confederations, respectively. Workers, complying with the procedures and requirements established by laws, can choose to constitute different kinds of organisations. These regulations are framed within the right to freedom of association of workers established in Article 440 of the Labour Code of Ecuador.

Labour organisations are protected by the State which, through current regulations, establishes guarantees for their constitution, directives and operation. For example, the dismissal of workers is prohibited by the time they meet in an assembly to constitute a trade union, committee or other kind of association until the first board of directors is designated.

Once the board of directors has been designated, directors cannot be dismissed by the employer by their sole decision. Organisations may not be suspended or dissolved except by following law’s procedure.

Employers are obliged to respect workers’ associations and authorities have to promote them in accordance with the law. The Ecuadorian Banana and Plantain Exporters and Growers Cluster has signed an agreement with Fenacle, a national labour organisation which represents workers of the industry, in order to promote the social dialogue and develop joint strategies to tackle challenges and improve sustainable development.

Leonidas Estrada Vásquez
President, Agroban

Kléber Sigüenza Rojas
President, Cámara de Agricoltura II Zona

Eduardo Manrique
Executive director, Asoexpla

José Antonio Hidalgo
Executive director, AEBE

Richard Salazar Veloz
Executive director, Acorbanec