Colombian banana farm workers in
the country's key growing region went on strike over pay and
benefits on Friday, threatening hundreds of thousands of boxes
exported a day, union leaders and producers said.
Around 17,000 banana plantation workers joined the strike in the world's No. 3 exporter of the fruit and the protest has paralyzed around 234,000 18-kg boxes a day of exports, said Guillermo Rivera, president of the Sintrainagro farm union.
Colombia's Uraba region, the country's banana-growing heartland, usually ships approximately 350,000 boxes of bananas a day mainly to the clients in the United States and Europe, according to producers.
"The situation is worrying for producers and commercial companies as it affects exports to overseas markets and means contracts go unfulfilled," a commission representing banana growers said in a statement. (Reuters)
