Jamaica is a banana exporter and because of this, we should know something about one of the three biggest banana (fruit) corporations of the world: Chiquita.
Chiquita, a US corporation, is founded in 1899 and grew because of its trade with tropical fruits like bananas (mainly this). Today, Chiquita bananas wear the "Rainforest" sticker, so they want to show that their bananas are produced fair and environmentally friendly. But it doesn't seem to be like this: There's much information about bad work conditions, poisonous pesticides and workers who are made redundant because of their commitment in an union (like the german Gewerkschaften).
Chiquita says that the workers on Chiquita plantages get more money than workers from other plantages, that their workers have protective clothing and work times which are shorter than work times at other plantages. According to different internet articles this is true. Workers at Chiquita plantages have better conditions than ones from others, but this conditions aren't good. I'm sure that the workers aren't treated fair- They are lucky if they have every possible job, because they need the money. In a report about the conditions on African flower plantages a worker (who was made unrecognizable) said "Our work conditions are really bad, but a little bit money is better than no money.". This dependence of workers on the one side and the avarice for profit of corporations on the other side give rise to the suspicion that workers, not only of Chiquita, are put-upon by big corporations.
Now a lot of people will say something like 'Oh, that's really terrible' while chomping into a 'normal' banana. They justify it by saying 'I'm not a corporation, I can't do something' but that's wrong.
Everyone can do something- No one is forced to buy this bananas, everyone can send a sign to the big corporations by buying bananas from fair trade. This bananas are sold everywhere- All bananas at Tegut are Fairtrade-bananas, even Lidl has some Fairtrade-bananas (look at the Fairtrade symbol!).
So I call you for stop buying bananas which are cultivated by put-upon workers and start buying bananas with the Fairtrade symbol to change the world a little bit to a better, a more human world.
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