After a Strike and Multi-Million-Dollar Losses, Panama Seeks the Return of a Historic Banana Plantation

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino will meet with the US banana company Chiquita Brands in Brazil to seek an agreement for the company to resume operations in the country after closing and laying off its entire workforce due to a strike, a minister announced Monday.  Chiquita, which employed more than 6,000 people in the town of Changuinola in the Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro, laid off the workers after protests that semi-paralyzed the region.  Trade and Industry Minister Julio Moltó stated that the government hopes to reach an agreement after Mulino’s meeting with Chiquita in Brazil, during a trip to that country beginning August 28. 

Talks with the company “are progressing positively.  I hope we can reach a good agreement with Chiquita and that the president can close it in Brazil so that the company can return to the country,” Moltó said.  The minister did not explain why Mulino will meet with Chiquita executives in the South American country.  “If everything goes as we’re planning, we could have good news by September or the end of this month,” Moltó added in a statement to reporters.  Moltó stated that “obviously” the company’s return “has to be phased.”  According to the minister, Chiquita is evaluating its losses and how to rehire staff.

The company has also reportedly requested guarantees that its routes will not be closed in the event of future protests.  Banana workers began a strike on April 28 against a pension reform that stripped them of some benefits. These were later restored following an agreement with the Panamanian government.  During the protests, which lasted until the end of June, workers blocked routes at more than 40 points in Bocas del Toro, causing shortages of basic goods in the tourist province.  The company said the strike, declared illegal by a labor court, and caused losses of more than $75 million, a figure that some media outlets estimate to be over $100 million.