The Panamanian subsidiary of U.S. banana giant Chiquita Brands announced a mass dismissal of workers on Thursday, nearly a month after a strike that has cost the company an estimated US $75 million. In a statement, Chiquita Panamá said it had “regrettably” fired all of its daily workers for “unjustified abandonment of duties.” Daily workers are hired only for the harvest season and do not hold permanent contracts.
Employees have been on strike since 28 April, protesting a pension reform passed by Congress. Although the company did not specify the number of layoffs, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had warned earlier in the day that thousands of jobs could be lost if the walkout continued.
His comments came four days after a labor court declared the strike at Chiquita’s Changuinola plant—near the Costa Rican border—illegal.
“The strike is illegal; the company has already reported 4,900 cases of job abandonment,” Mulino said. “Under the Labor Code the next step is dismissal—for just cause.”
Chiquita’s local unit employs about 7,000 people. It must “dismiss those responsible to keep the operation alive,” the president added. “Believe me, it hurts.” Even so, banana-workers’ union leader Francisco Smith told reporters the strike would continue indefinitely.
According to Chiquita, the walkout has caused “at least US $75 million in losses” and “irreversible damage to production” due to the “complete abandonment” of plantations. A government delegation is still negotiating with unions, which want a new law restoring benefits they say were guaranteed under the previous pension and health-care regime.
Striking workers have staged protests and blocked roads in Bocas del Toro, a Caribbean province that relies on tourism and banana farming. Some areas are now facing fuel shortages and school closures. “We no longer know in what language to explain” the “enormous damage” caused by the unions’ intransigence, Mulino said.
The president is also grappling with separate strikes by construction workers and teachers who oppose the same pension overhaul.
