bepah

I would like to see a report on the same history from a less left leaning source, although I don't think I will.

The outrage and anger I see here seems a bit manufactured.

The real question is....What are you going to do about it? If the conditions are so brutal, why do people continue to work on the plantations? We all know the answer.....because there is nowhere else to work that pays what Chiquita pays.

While there is definitely a situation that we would not tolerate here in the USA, the company does provide income for families that would not be achievable without.

Let's play a mind game. Suppose that you're able to mobilize a worldwide protest and boycott of bananas, in order to make Chiquita aware of your unhappiness. The immediate result, of course, would be the termination of the jobs they've created as there would be no demand for the product. So that probably wouldn't work. Perhaps a unionization effort was successful and the workers conducted a strike? Two really bad outcomes here. Either the workers are locked out and have their meager incomes ended, or the company hires scabs. Potential for violence is increased and problems increase with this scenario.

The problem with sweatshops is that they are successful merely because its the best option available to people with no other means. Without sweatshops, the people in these areas would be markedly worse off than they are with them.

Its an ugly fact, but no less real. To improve the economy for the workers, it would be in the interest for the government to help in expanding the numbers of swaetshops; with the labor pool shrinking as a result of competition, wages would rise, conditions would improve and thenational economy would expand.

What stops this from happening is government corruption.

So, do not blame the companies, blame the government. In almost every case, government is the problem, not the solution.

__________________
John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker