With the Banana Workers

"It takes several hot and bumpy hours to drive to the town of Morales more than 128 miles from Guatemala City," writes Denise Riley, Political Director of the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO.  "It is the home of the banana workers" union, Sindicato de Trabajadores Bananeros de Izabal (SITRABI), Guatemala's oldest and largest local union. We are here to see the impacts of globalization and CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) on the workers in Guatemala on a delegation coordinated by STITCH, a non-profit that unites Central American and U.S. women to fight for economic justice. Decent pay for the workers feeds the economy and union dues support community programs, sports leagues, and those in crisis," says Riley, "Yet all the great programs of the union can not change the fact that work on the banana plantation is brutally hot and dangerous." Click here to read the rest of Riley's report.