GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE: DOLE) today announced that Ubesa, Dole’s banana division in Ecuador, signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with “Comité de Empresa de Trabajadores de la Compañía Megabananas,” a union affiliated with FENACLE, Ecuador’s national agro-industrial workers and small farmers’ federation. The agreement was signed last week at Megabanana, a Dole-owned banana farm employing around 500 workers located near Babahoyo in the province of Los Ríos.
The negotiations with the workers’ representatives started in January and concluded last week with the signing of a two-year Collective Bargaining Agreement. “The signing of this agreement formalizes the constructive dialogue which has prevailed between Dole in Ecuador and FENACLE. We are confident that the quality of the relationship and this new CBA will be beneficial not only to the workers but also to the Company,” said Peter Gilmore, Managing Director of Dole Ubesa.
At the signing of the agreement in the local Labor Relations Ministry offices, Prospero Mendoza, FENACLE’s General Secretary, said: “FENACLE congratulates the workers and the Company in the efforts they have made to secure real social dialogue and develop stable and cooperative labor relations.”
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Dole, with 2010 net revenues of $6.9 billion, is the world’s largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, and is the leading producer of organic bananas and producer/shipper of organic pineapples. Dole markets a growing line of packaged and frozen fruit and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.