Valentine's Day is among the biggest commercial U.S. holidays, and as we treat those we love to delights of the senses, we must oppose the exploitation behind many of the bouquets and and chocolate hearts.
1. Choose fairly traded chocolate and demand "Veriflora" or "FFP" certification if you purchase flowers. Consider buying from local, sustainable, family-owned farms, or making your own gift.
2. Contact the people who will decide whether or not flower workers are granted basic human rights.
3. Write to the largest cut flower retailers in the United States, expressing your concern about pesticide poisoning, discrimination, and labor rights violations on flower farms.

Valentine's Day is among the biggest commercial U.S. holidays, and as we treat those we love to delights of the senses, we must oppose the exploitation behind many of the bouquets and and chocolate hearts.
1. Choose fairly traded chocolate and demand "Veriflora" or "FFP" certification if you purchase flowers.
2. Contact the people who will decide whether or not flower workers are granted basic human rights.

Send an email supporting worker demands to Fernando Palacio and Ivan Diaz Mateus of Asocoflores in Columbia.

3. Write to the largest cut flower retailers in the United States, expressing your concern about pesticide poisoning, discrimination, and labor rights violations on flower farms. Ask them to pressure their suppliers to respect labor rights and abide by occupational health and safety standards.

Dole Flower Workers in Trouble Again

Dole Fresh Flowers has revealed itself as an anti-union company in recent years, engaging in numerous union-busting tactics while presenting a public face of corporate social responsibility.  After destroying the strongest independent union in the Colombian flower industry, Sintrasplendor, in 2006, Dole is now finding itself on the brink of another union struggle.

At Flores la Fragancia, another fully-owned subsidiary of Dole Fresh Flowers in Colombia, the Untrafragancia union formed in early February 2006.  By the end of their first month, it claimed 200 affiliates, almost two-thirds of the plantation's workers.  Workers say they joined the union in response to poor working conditions, labor rights violations, and mistreatment from management.  Flower workers often endure long work days, repetitive stress injuries from excessive work loads, and pesticide-related illnesses such as respiratory infections, nausea and vomiting, and reproductive problems.  Female flower workers report that pregnancy tests are often a pre-requisite of employment.

Sinaltraflor, a company-friendly union used systematically by Dole and other flower companies to prevent the establishment of independent unions, has effectively prevented Untrafragancia from negotiating with Dole for almost two years.

For those of you who have followed the Splendor struggle, all of this may sound very familiar.  So far, the Fragancia struggle is mirroring the Splendor struggle every step of the way.  At Splendor, after waiting two years for the Sinaltraflor contract to expire, Untraflores finally had a chance to negotiate with the company.  Just as the contract was expiring, however, Dole announced the closure of the plantation, effectively destroying the strongest union in Colombian floriculture.

This time, we're ready for them.  It appears that Dole's tactics have grown more sophisticated since the Splendor struggle, but it has also gained a reputation for ruthless union-busting.  It's time to embarrass Dole, to shame them for unethical and illegal behavior.

Dole has a chance to redeem itself by respecting worker rights and negotiating with Untrafragancia.  Send an email to Sue Hagen at Dole to support Fragancia workers' demands:

1.  Support a fair, transparent union census to determine levels of union representation on the plantation.

2.  Negotiate in good faith with Untrafragancia, with the goal of signing a fair contract in a reasonable time period.

Also, tell Dole to negotiate in good faith with the remaining workers at Splendor Farms.  Laid off workers are looking for new jobs.  They  are waiting for a date for an arbitration tribunal in response to Dole's bad faith negotiations this summer.  Tell Dole that enough is enough:  union-busting is intolerable and needs to stop.

Stand in Solidarity with Colombian Flower Workers

Flowers need water to grow, not the tears of those who grow them.  111,000 flowers workers, both women and men work under unfair labor conditions and cannot fullfill their dreams. Cut flowers are a novelty item in the US and often we forget about the people behind the pretty roses and carnations.  These people are men and women that are fighting for a better life.  They are fighting for an opportunity to support their families.  They are demanding jobs with justice and dignity.

Send the urgent action letter below to show your support for these workers as they struggle for labor rights in the cut flower industry. This urgent action has been sent on behalf of CACTUS (a Colombian NGO).

Send an email supporting worker demands to Fernando Palacio and Ivan Diaz Mateus of Asocoflores in Columbia.