Norwegian Corporation Violates Labor Rights in Peru

Agrifood corporation CampoSol – a subsidiary of Norway corporation Dyer Coriat Holding – has arbitrarily fired workers for creating trade unions.

In 2002 Felipe Ecobedo was fired for leading the creation of a trade union. In May of 2007, the company fired workers for reading flyers that promoted the creation of a trade union in the company.

This situation caused a series of demonstrations and mobilizations that led to a strong police repression. Four workers were kidnapped and tortured and others were injured by bullets. In August of 2007, the Workers Trade Union of Camposol Corporation (SITECASA) was finally created. But in December of the same year the company fired 385 workers. 80% of them were members of the union. Despite the mediation of the Minister of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru and the successive negotiations with the work administrative authority, only 50 of the fired workers have recovered their jobs.

The Association Aurora Vivar is filing an action against the company before the PPT for violating human and trade union rights in Peru. CampoSol is leader in growing, harvesting, processing and commercializing fruit and vegetables in Peru. The company has over 15,500 hectares of land on the northern Peruvian coast, and 1,060 hectares of leased land.

CampoSol covers the whole production chain, from the production of raw materials in the countryside to the processing in the industrial plants and the susequent commercialization in Europe and the United States. Exports to the US have been favored by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). Since its creation 10 years ago, CampoSol has had a sustained growth with exports that went from 500,000 US dollars in 1999, to more than 100 million dollars in 2006.

The Association Aurora Vivar claims that the growth of the transnational corporation is caused for example by the export of non traditional agriculture products in Peru, based on social dumping. The workers earn less than a living wage, i.e. their salary subsidizes non traditional agriculture exports for nearly 2.5 million US dollars.

Therefore, in 2000, the non traditional agroexporting sector is favored by Law 27360 “Law that approves the Rules of Promotion of the Agriculture Sector”. Besides granting tax benefits to the companies, the law creates an Agrarian Labor Regime that contemplates less rights for workers: it provides lower salaries than the one earned by a worker in the private sector, it reduces the annual vacation time and makes firings cheaper.

In this scenario, there is an alliance between the big capitals and the ruling government of Peru that favors private investment at the expense of the workers’ rights. There is an official tendency of going backwards in terms of labor rights promoted by the business sector and of fostering business promotion acts. Since the Tribunal is a forum with international participation, the case can become public as well as the violation of the rights suffered by the workers in these sectors.

Key issues: Precarization and exploitation of labour

Denouncing organizations: Asociación Aurora Vivar, Confederación General de Trabajadores- CGTP, SITECASA (Perú)