For more than two decades Jean Francois was one of thousands of Haitian workers labouring illegally on banana plantations in the Dominican Republic. His lack of legal status left him vulnerable to expulsion and caused great uncertainty for him and others like him who struggled to provide for their families across the border. Risking deportation and unfair treatment, he forms part of the workforce fuelling the Caribbean nation’s banana boom. But his situation is changing, thanks to a government led intervention that will change Jean Francois’ and other banana workers’ legal status.
The Dominican Republic is the second biggest producing country for Fairtrade bananas after Colombia (pdf) and nearly 50% of what they produce is sold on Fairtrade terms. Banana farm sizes vary from tiny ones of about three hectares up to very big ones of 100s of hectares. By far the most important market for Fairtrade is the UK, where nearly 50% of all the Fairtrade bananas in the world are sold. Virtually all of the Fairtrade bananas sold in both Sweden and Ireland are from the Dominican Republic.
It is estimated that nearly $10m (£6.5m) extra in Fairtrade premiums was earned through Fairtrade sales in 2014 in the Dominican Republic.
Following many years of campaigning by Fairtrade and other organisations, a government-led regularisation programme was launched last year. What this meant for workers was that their presence in the Dominican Republic would be legal for the first time and that they would finally have access to social security.
“It has been extremely important for the producers and workers in the Dominican Republic to hear from the people in the banana markets and be able to show the good progress being made on regularising migrants’ work status,” said Marike De Pena, chair of the Latin American Fairtrade Organisation, the CLAC. “With the support of the Dominican government during the last six months, banana producers estimate that 74% of the workforce now count with a legal status. We are aware that countries all over the world face problems related with migration linked to poverty or even worse, conflicts and wars, but this is even more reason to be proud of our country’s progress.”
Fairtrade was instrumental in ensuring that the Dominican Republic’s banana sector took a proactive stance to regularising migrant workers, by building this issue into Fairtrade standards.
As these and other efforts came to fruition last month, a Fairtrade delegation travelled to the Dominican Republic as Jean Francois and thousands of others received their carnets (identity cards) that would legally recognise their presence.
“This means a considerable and positive change to our lives,” says Jean Francois. “Before we had the cards, a return journey home could cost us up to $80 (£52). Now we won’t have to pay cross border fees which means the journey will only cost us $10 (£6.50).”
The saving is considerable, considering the average wage for a banana worker in the Dominican Republic is$6 (£3.91) per day. But the real value of the carnet lies in the fact that Jean Francois and other migrant workers will now be protected by law.
Anecdotally, estimates of the total number of Haitian migrants vary hugely. The border is completely porous except for a few checkpoints on roads, so estimating the number of migrants is difficult if not impossible.
What can be said with more accuracy is that nearly 300,000 people have applied for the regularisation of their situation since the process began in June 2014. About 90% of these applications have now been formally accepted and the paperwork for issuing passports or identity cards is in train. In the plantation sector about 97% of Haitian workers have been registered.
Regularisation for migrant workers is contributing towards the progress of the Dominican Republic’s stance on migrant workers and to greater transparency in the international banana supply chain. Another milestone during the visit was the first dialogue table with plantation managers, NGOs and trade unions, on employment conditions for workers on banana plantations.
It is clear that the government and others are serious about addressing the challenges faced by workers. In the meantime, we need to continue supporting these workers by buying Fairtrade bananas, by supporting dialogue and inclusion in the banana sector, and also by acknowledging the progress that continues to be made for banana workers like Jean Francois.
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