Fairness In Flowers - International Labor Rights Forum

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International Labor Rights ForumFairness in FlowersCampaign ToolkitILRF

table of contents2345Introduction7Peak Seasons910111315Toxic Flowers: Flower Worker Health in JeopardyFrequently Used TermsFlower FactsA Day in the Life of a Flower WorkerWomen Flower Workers: Victims of ViolenceFlowers vs. the Environment: Why these Plants are not so GreenTogether, Workers Assert Their Labor RightsUntangling the Supply Chain: Following a Flower fromFarm to Home1719Timeline of the Global Floral Industry20Take Action: How You Can Help Support Flower WorkersLook for the Labels: A Guide to Buying Sustainable FlowersResources to Further the Cause281Fairness in Flowers Toolkita.Sample Letter to Dolep. 21b.Student Action Sheetp. 22c.Lesson Plan for Grades 1-5p. 24d.Fairness in Flowers Word Findp. 27Endnotes & CreditsInternational Labor Rights Forum

introductionintroductionFlowers.We give them to our loved ones as acts of appreciation, compassion, andkindness. A flower has the power to brighten a person’s day and fill a personwith joy. We run to the grocery store last minute to pick up a perfect bouquet for our mother, our friend,or our spouse. We receive a lovely assortment, and don’t stop to think “How did I get roses in the middleof winter?” The last thing we would ever ask ourselves is, “Who grew these beautiful flowers?”Unlike other products that Americans consume, flowers generally don’t have an obvious tag or label thatlets us know where the flowers were grown or by what company. It is even more difficult for us to knowif the flowers we are buying were harvested sustainably, with acceptable labor conditions, or organically.The truth is most of the flowers that Americans buy are imported from Colombia or Ecuador, wherefundamental labor rights of flower workers are consistently violated by growing companies. Flowerproduction can also be found in the Netherlands, Israel, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mexico, Central America,Zimbabwe, Zambia, and more recently in Japan, China and India. This is an industry that is competing in arace to the bottom in terms of labor conditions. Workers are routinely forced to work overtime withoutadditional pay, are exposed to toxic chemicals without proper training and equipment, and are deprived theright to collectively bargain for decent wages and safer conditions. Women, who make up the majority offlower workers, face sexual harassment and violence at astonishing rates. In some countries, children arefound working in flower cultivation. The practices of many farms, such as the disposal of toxic wastes intonearby rivers and lakes, place the workers and surrounding communities in serious danger.The International Labor Rights Forum and the Fairness in Flowers CampaignThe International Labor Rights Forum began its “Fairness in Flowers” campaign in 2003, forging collaborativerelationships with unions and NGOs in Colombia and Ecuador, and bringing the concerns mentionedabove into the public eye in the US. They have conducted research on the ground, pressured companiessuch as Dole to respect the rights of their employees, and testified before Congress, the UN, and the StateDepartment. ILRF has organized speaking tours across the U.S., enabling American consumers to hearthe firsthand experiences of South American flower workers. ILRF has also formed alliances with otherorganizations to help flower workers assert their labor rights. ILRF continues to be committed to bringingjustice to the flower workers.This information has been prepared by the International Labor Rights Forum to continue to educate onthe alarming issues that flower workers face and to provide the tools for change.Look for the pink rose throughout this reference for fun andnteresting ways to learn and share about the flower industry.www.laborrights.org2Fairness in Flowers Toolkit

frequently used termsfrequently used termsWorkers’ Rights: Workers’ rights or labor rights areestablished through International Labor Organization(ILO) Conventions and national laws. The mostfundamental ones include the right to organize, theright to collective bargaining, the right to claim unfairdismissal, and the right to non-discrimination. Theremay be other rights, like the right to maternity leave,that are conditional on the employee having sufficientlength of service to exercise them.Trade Union: A trade union or labor union is anorganization that represents workers. The trade unionleaders negotiate with the employer on behalf of unionmembers; these negotiations result in a collective laborcontract.Trade unions can negotiate wages, work rules,complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing andpromotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety rulesand other policies. firing and promotion of workers,benefits, workplace safety and policies.Floriculture: Floriculture is commonly definedas the cultivation and management of ornamentaland especially flowering plants. It is frequently usedinterchangeably with “flower industry.”Collective Bargaining: This refers to the negotiationover wages and working conditions between tradeunions and employers (when trade unions are permittedto operate openly).Flower Industry: The web of commercial entitiesinvolved in the growing, the distributing, the transportingand the buying and selling of flowers. Each link in thefresh cut flower supply chain including the growers, thetransporters, wholesalers, and retailers make up thefloral industry.Child Labor: Child labor is commonly defined aswork done by children under the age of 18 (in somecountries it is under the age of 16 or 17), which isconsidered to be damaging to their physical, emotional,intellectual, social and spiritual growth and denies themtheir rights to develop fully, to play or to go to school.Supply Chain: This term refers to the system oforganizations, people, activities, information andresources involved in moving a product, in this case cutflowers, from supplier to customer. Supply chain activitiestransform raw materials and components into a finishedproduct that is delivered to the end customer.Sexual Violence: This is any act in which the personin power uses physical force, coercion, or psychologicalintimidation to force another person to participate in asexual act against their will, or to participate in sexualinteractions that lead to their victimization.A female worker at Elite Flowers.3Fairness in Flowers ToolkitInternational Labor Rights Forum

sflower factsflower factsU.S. consumers spend over 18 billion annually on freshcut flowers.iThe United States importsalmost 80% of its flowers.iiColombia is the largestexporter to the U.S.followed by Ecuador, both ofwhich export over 70% oftheir flowers to the UnitedStates.iiiOver 60% of the flowersimported by the U.S. comefrom Colombia.ivThere are 75,000 flowerworkers in Ecuador andover 100,000 in Colombia,working to grow, harvest, andpackage flowers. Additionalpeople indirectly depend onthe flower industry for theiremployment, including thosewho transport flowers orproduce the inputs. vAbout 60% of Colombian andEcuadorian flower workersare women.viSexual harassment of femaleworkers proceeds uncheckedas 55% of Ecuadorian flowerworkers have been the victimsof some form of sexualharassment. The aggressorsare almost never punished bythe company or the courts.www.laborrights.orgDue to heavy use ofpesticides and fungicides,nearly two-thirds ofColombian flower workerssuffer from one or morefloriculture-related healthproblems including headaches,nausea, impaired vision,conjunctivitis, rashes, asthma,congenital malformations andrespiratory and neurologicalproblems.viiMost flower workers arepaid poverty level wages.In Colombia, workersearn an average of 7 aday, a fraction of what USconsumers pay for onebouqet of flowers.Women are often forcedto take pregnancy tests asa condition of hire, and iffound to be pregnant, arenot hired. Women who arefound to be pregnant afterstarting to work at a flowerfarm are often fired.viiiAccording to a 2000study by The InternationalLabor Organization (ILO)estimated that 20% of the60,000 Ecuadorian flowerworkers were children oryoung adults.ixMany workers are employedthrough “labor cooperatives”or subcontractors. Theseworkers are paid less andare denied most basic rightsincluding the right to join a4Fairness in Flowers Toolkit

a day in the lifea day in the lifeA DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FLOWERWORKER“ I had been working at this plantation for four years when my hands started to fall asleep. I would workfrom 6 a.m. until 5 or 6 p.m., using clippers all day long.The pain went all the way up to my shoulder.They gaveme an exam to see if the carpal tunnel syndrome was due to a thyroid problem, arthritis, or glycemia, and sincethose tests came back fine, they knew it was because of the work.I have had surgery on my right hand three times. I feel like I am going to lose this finger. It is really hard tobend it or move it. I get to work at 6 a.m., and by 8:30 a.m. my hands hurt so much I can’t stand it. I only worktaking the smaller buds off the stems; this is an easier job than cutting but I am still sick. They didn’t give meenough time to recover from the surgery before sending me back to work. After the last surgery, they gave me1 month and 20 days of rest. But the specialists say that it takes at least 6 months for the nerves to recover.On the outside, the skin looks healed, but inside the nerves have a hard time healing. I haven’t recovered, andevery day my hand hurts more.-Rosa Delgado, Colombian Flower Worker*”Flower workers at a plantation in Cayambe, Ecuador.5Fairness in Flowers ToolkitInternational Labor Rights Forum

a day in the lifea day in the lifeIn low season, workers at the plantation regularly workabout 50 hours per week.The high season workweek isoften 70-80 hours. The number of hours worked dailydepends on the worker’s department, but typicallyduring the low season, flower workers work from 6:15a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 6:15 a.m.to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. They are allowed 30 minutesfor lunch and at least one 15-minute break.During a regular week, a male flower worker wakes upat around 5:00 am to get on the bus. He arrives at theplantation, puts on his work clothes, and must be inposition when the bell rings at 6:15 a.m. He most likelyis assigned to work in the greenhouse, composting,fumigation, or building new greenhouses. .“ In the high season they double our workload. We get”to work but we don’t know when we get to leave.-Luís EspinosaDuring the high season, workers report working 14 or15-hour days. They begin work at 6:15 a.m. and oftenstay until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. At the end of the day, theworkers return home in buses, and then start all overagain the next day.“ One day the supervisor called a meeting to proposethat we work on Sundays instead of Saturdays. I told mycoworkers not to sign that document, because that wouldchange the way Sundays were counted in our severancepay and bonuses. So the supervisor told me: ‘by order ofthe company-and I am the company-you will just washthe bathrooms and changing rooms and then go stand infront of the office there without speaking to anyone.’ Mycoworkers cried to see me like that, and I entered into adeep depression. One day the owner of the company cameand saw me standing there, and he didn’t say anything. Iwas there for 5 days.On a typical day, a woman flower worker wakes up asearly as 3:00 a.m. in order to finish her housework, feedthe children and prepare them for school. She couldeither go to work in the classification and packingroom,, in which flowers are sorted by quality, stemlength, and color, or she may do weeding and harvestingin the greenhouses.Then I filed a human rights complaint with the PersoneríaMunicipal. The complaint was sent to Asocolflores and theMinistry of Social Protection. I told the manager that I hadfiled a complaint against the company, and he offered memoney to stop the case. I told him that I hadn’t done it formoney, but to recover my dignityx.As if the lengthy hours of work were not enough, whileat work flower workers are at risk for life-threateningillnesses or accidents. Workers are frequently exposedto dangerous chemicals, women are victims of variousforms of sexual harassment, heavy workloads result inrepetitive stress injuries, and women report rupturedvaricose veins from standing for long hours and kidneyproblems from restricted bathroom use.Use the “Lesson Plan” in the “Resources to Furtherthe Cause” section as a guide to educate studentsgrades 1 through 5 on the working conditions andthe use of pesticides in the cut flower industry.Learning about this important issue can increasetheir vocabulary with words such as “toxicity,”as well as expose them to and make them thinkcritically about this global issue.”* The names of the flower workers have been changed to protect their identities.www.laborrights.org6Fairness in Flowers Toolkit

peak seasonspeak seasonsPEAK SEASONS: VALENTINE’S DAY ANDMOTHER’S DAY IN THE GREENHOUSEBefore you hand that bouquet to your loved one, consider the flower workers.During holidays such as Valentines Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas the flower industry sees a peakin sales. An estimated 214 million roses were produced for Valentine’s Day in 2007.xiAccording to the Society of American Florists, customers purchase more fresh flowers forValentine’s Day than any other holiday.xiiOne third of all flowers exported from Ecuador are exported for Valentines Day.xiiiThe high season workweek is often 70-80 hours.xivWorkdays can be up to 20 hours long.Production quotas range from 250-300 stems per hour for harvesters and 1,250 to 1,500 per hourfor those who work in the classification and packing department.xvFebruary 14 is not just Valentine’s Day any more. Now, it is the International Day of FlowerWorkers. It is a day dedicated to raising awareness about the dire circumstances of flower workersthroughout the world. While sweethearts are giving their tokens of affection, workers in flowerproducing countries and organizations throughout the world celebrate the occasion by organizingmunicipal festivals, holding education sessions in schools and daycares where children of workersstudy, and by providing forums and awareness-raising activities to promote better living conditionsfor flower workers.xviShow support for flower workers this Valentine’s Day! Get together witha group in your community and make valentines in the shape of a floweror heart with a flower worker fact inside.You can make them for yourfriends, your local florist or grocery store, or Dole Foods Inc.Write articles for your local or school newspaper during these holidays.They are perfect opportunities to get peers, members of the communityand friends interested.7Fairness in Flowers ToolkitInternational Labor Rights Forum

sA sign warning of the dangers of the fumigation chemicals at Elite Flowers plantation.www.laborrights.org8Fairness in Flowers Toolkit

toxic flowerstoxic flowersToxic Flowers: Flower Workers’ Health in JeopardyOne of the greatest dangers flower workers faceis the exposure to harmful pesticides, fungicidesand other chemicals used in the cut flower productionprocess. Countries importing flowers require flowersto be completely rid of insects and disease. Theserequirements are called phytosanitary regulations, andthey are fulfilled at a high cost to the worker.The flower growing process begins with workersusing steam and chemical fumigation to disinfect thesoil. Later, artificially produced fertilizers are pumpedinto the soil to provide nutrients for the plants togrow. Once the plants are growing, fumigations aredone frequently to ensure that they are not blightedwith pests or fungi. Eyewitness accounts reveal thatgreenhouses are not always completely cleared beforethe fumigation process begins. In Colombia the flowerindustry uses more than 200 kilos of pesticide perhectare of land which is double that of the Netherlands,still the world’s leading flower exporter. A study of8,000 Colombian flower workers found that they wereexposed to 127 different pesticides. Twenty percent ofthese pesticides are either banned or unregistered foruse in the U.S. because they are extremely toxic andcarcinogenic. Unfortunately companies rarely providetraining on how to decrease health risks when handlingand applying pesticides, and many flower workers arenot given sufficient protective clothing or masks.xviiiAgrosciences, are chemicals that caused over 200people to be sent to the hospital in a 2003 flowergrowing facility accident. Chlorpyrifos is a strongneurotoxicant and a suspected endocrine disruptor.Organophosphates, of which approximately 40 arewidely used as pesticides, are associated with adversecumulative effects, meaning that one exposure (andparticularly an acute exposure, or poisoning) mayincrease the likelihood of negative health effects,including long term neurological damage. These areknown to be used on Colombian flower plantations.xixSide effects of floriculture chemicalsThe use, misuse and overuse of dangerous chemicalscauses flower workers to experience horrifying illness.Doctors in Colombian floriculture regions report up tofive cases of acute poisoning daily.xx According to a 2002study, nearly two-thirds of Colombian flower workerssuffer from one or more floriculture-related healthproblems including headaches, nausea, impaired vision,conjunctivitis, rashes, asthma, congenital malformationsand respiratory and neurological problems.xxiReproductive problems are another result, as a studyin Colombia reported female floriculture workerswith reduced ability to become pregnant, and spermconcentrations 40% lower in males working more thanFloriculture Chemicalsten years in floriculture. Still births and miscarriages arecommon among pregnant female workers. FloricultureFloriculture uses many chemicals and many haveworkers also experience an elevated risk of Parkinson’sdevastating health consequences. Dursban and Lorsban,disease, which is believed to be caused by chemicalsformulations of chlorpyrifos manufactured by Dowused in the industry. xxiiChallenge yourself, your peers or your studentswith the Fairness in Flowers Word Find in the“Resources to further the Cause” section.9Fairness in Flowers ToolkitInternational Labor Rights Forum

swoman flower workerswomen flower workersVictims of ViolenceAbout 60 percent of Colombian flower workersand Ecuadorian flower workers are women.Women flower workers are victims of various forms ofsexual violence with alarming frequency. A case studyin the Northern Andes region of Ecuador conductedby ILRF and local NGO partners in Ecuador showedthat over 55 percent of women flower workers hadexperienced some form of sexual violence. The studyalso showed a staggering19 percent of women flowerworkers had been forced to have sex with a coworkeror superior and 10% had been sexually attacked.The most common victims of sexual violence areadolescents of 14-15 years of age. The offenders areusually superiors or older coworkers.What is sexual violence?This is any act in which the person in power usesphysical force, coercion, or psychological intimidationto force another person to participate in a sexualact against their will, or to participate in sexualinteractions that lead to their victimization.Why does sexual violence occur on flower plantations?Sexual violence in floriculture continues for severalreasons. One reason is that sexual violence is madepossible by working conditions such as solitary workin cultivation areas, long working hours that extendlate into the night or into the early morning andstrong pressure to fulfill production goals. Womenprefer not to discuss experiences of sexual violencefor fear of losing their jobs, for fear of disrupting theirfamily and marital relations, or simply because theywww.laborrights.orgdon’t think anyone will believe them. A case study inEcuador showed that women “do not inform theirsuperio

Fairness in Flowers Word Find p. 27 28 Endnotes & Credits 1 Fairness in Flowers Toolkit International Labor Rights Forum. introduction Flowers. We give them to our loved ones as acts of appreciation, compassion, and kindness. A flower has the power to brighten a person’s day and fill a person

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