Human Flower Project

Saturday, February 12, 2005

A Union for San Valentin

Send a Valentine to thousands of workers in Ecuador’s flower fields.

Can Ecuadorian flower workers keep companies from hiring children and paying them less than minimum wage? Can they protect their health in an industry that uses 100 pesticides? Can Ecuadorian women fight job discrimination? 

If they can form a union, yes!

The Ecuadorian government has twice denied workers the right to organize a floriculture union. After legal petitions were made to the Ministry of Labor, government officials twice consulted with the association of growers, Expoflores, and refused both petitions.

Fumigating a greenhouse
Photo: Fairness in Flowers

The International Labor Rights Fund writes, “The exporters’ association should not have the right to deny the workers the freedom to form this type of union. The Ministry should base the decision on whether or not the workers have fulfilled all the legal requirements, presented appropriate statutes, etc, not on whether or not the employers are union-friendly.”

Of 300 cut-flower companies in Ecuador, only four are currently unionized; the workers need a sector-wide union so they won’t get blacklisted for organizing.

Febrero (February) is an arduous season on Ecuador’s flower farms and a huge floral holiday for U.S. consumers, who buy half of Ecuador’s floral exports. Thus the Federacion de Trabajadores Floricultores 14 de Febrero (The Federation of Floriculture Workers, February the 14th) is asking flower buyers everywhere—especially in the U.S.—to send a message to Ecuador’s Ministry of Labor.

The letter, already composed, is accurate, succinct and respectful. It takes ten seconds to type in your e-mail address and click it straight to the Minister of Labor. Send an Ecuadorian Valentine. Mi Corazon, take action now.