Migrant Labour and Fruit Exports More Expensive in Costa Rica?
The secretary general of the Nicaraguan labour union Fetrabach-Cst, Roberto Antonio Ruiz, says that he regrets that Nicaraguan migratory workers and seasonal workers, who harvest pineapples and bananas in Costa Rica, receive a treatment there which is so much inferior to the labour conditions for Costa Ricans.

Salaries, working hours, social securities and secondary employment conditions differ quite a bit, including the corresponding labour costs for employers and plantation owners.

The Union is now speaking with the Costa Rican Union Cosiba, to discuss improvements of the labour conditions for migrants.

It concerns legal migratory workers in Costa Rica, of which a large part does not join the union activities, often because they are young (16 to 20 years) and inexperienced on the labour market.

According to Ruiz however, it is the Union’s obligation to confront the problems of globalization and to protect employees.