Union Leader Francisco Smith Warned for Trying to Torpedo the Return of Chiquita Panama
The union has filed legal action against Chiquita Panama while the government and Minister Muñoz negotiate the company’s return to banana operations.
Panama’s Labor Minister, Jackeline Muñoz, accused union leader Francisco Smith of jeopardizing the return of the multinational Chiquita Panama to banana production in Bocas del Toro. “If negotiations for the company to return fail, (Francisco Smith) will be responsible, for the second time, for putting the livelihood of thousands of Bocas del Toro families at risk,” wrote Muñoz in X”. “The real struggle,” asserts the head of Mitradel, “is not in inflammatory speeches or personal interests disguised as defense of workers.”
Muñoz’s reaction to recent statements by the leader of the Banana, Agricultural, and Business Workers’ Union (Sitraibana), who announced that they will sue Chiquita Panama for, he claimed, “failure to pay severance pay.” It should be remembered that the banana company withdrew from operations in Bocas del Toro following the economic impacts that arose during the road closures in May and June due to protests against the law reforming the Social Security Fund (CSS).
“Our lawyers are filing several lawsuits against Chiquita to see how we can return to work at this company because we have adhered to the laws of the Labor Code and the Ministry of Labor,” Smith stated. According to the union leader, a series of irregularities have been observed in workers’ payments, in addition to violations of the maternity leave rights to which workers are entitled. For Muñoz, it is “incredible how a ‘union leader,’ after having destroyed more than 5,000 jobs in the noble province of Bocas del Toro, is now making statements with demands.” President José Raúl Mulino announced that he will soon meet with the owners of the banana company in Brazil with the goal of achieving its return to Bocas del Toro and restoring the more than 5,000 jobs it provided.
