Religious Leaders Send a Valentine to Agricultural Giant Dole

The following is a press release issued by the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project.

Chicago, IL, February 12, 2008- "People of faith in the U.S. are increasingly convinced that our companies should be expected to uphold moral standards with workers in operations abroad," according to a letter released today by thirteen US religious leaders for Valentine's Day. The letter, sent to Dole Fresh Flowers President and CEO David DeLorenzo, requests that the company pursue a fair and positive working relationship with flower workers in their operations overseas. This issue is particularly poignant for religious leaders as houses of worship of all faiths are major consumers of flowers for decoration and religious ceremony.

"We cannot relish or recommend the products that are the result of deprivation of the workers of their rights, forced overtime, over-exposure to pesticide and other exploitive practices," wrote Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, the National Director of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, flower workers are often required to work 12-15 hour days with few breaks and are subjected to increased productivity quotas. According to Charity Ryerson, USLEAP Program Coordinator, "flower workers routinely undergo repetitive stress injuries, health problems related to over-exposure to pesticides, and humiliating and degrading treatment by management." Dole is the largest producer and exporter of fresh cut flowers from Latin America to the United States, supplying 60% of the U.S. flower market.

This letter was organized by the US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP), who has been pressuring Dole to address worker right concerns since 2004. Interested consumers and advocates for worker rights can learn more about the Flower Campaign at http://usleap.org/node/94

The letter follows ….February 12, 2008

David DeLorenzo

President and CEO

Dole Fresh Flowers

One Dole Drive

Westlake Village, CA 91362

Dear Mr. DeLorenzo:

As religious leaders in the United States, we believe in the importance of fair treatment of workers and respect for worker rights everywhere, at home and abroad. All our faith traditions support workers' rights, living wages, safe working conditions, and a voice in the workplace through unions and collective action.

As you know, Dole is the focus of an international initiative to encourage the company to improve respect for freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining at all of its operations abroad with a specific focus on the Latin American banana and flower sectors. We join with others in requesting that your company pursue a fair and positive working relationship with the workers in your operations overseas.

We are writing at this time to request that you deal justly with your Colombian flower workers as they attempt to exercise their basic internationally recognized worker rights, including the right to organize and to collective bargaining.

Given that Dole is the largest exporter of fresh cut flowers from Latin America to the United States and that Colombia supplies 60% of the U.S. flower market, respect for the basic rights of Dole workers in the Colombian flower sector is especially important.

We understand that workers at two Dole flower plantations in Colombia have organized independent unions and have been attempting, without success, to negotiate contracts with your company for the past several years. These workers report that they organized unions in order to address concerns about low wages, long hours, high productivity quotas, humiliation by management, and health problems associated with repetitive motion and over-exposure to pesticides.

The Untraflores flower union, who has plant-level unions at two of your Colombian plantations, reports that Dole is widely perceived to be an anti-union company and that rumors have spread around the plantations that last year's closing of the Splendor plantation was the final blow of a long anti-union campaign. Many workers are afraid that if they organize, they will lose their jobs.