Blue-Bag Suffocation

Insecticide bags are meant to be powerfully poisonous.  They have to protect entire banana bunches from harm caused by pests.  And yet, the banana workers must remove the bags with their bare hands.  They do not use skin protection or gloves.  Perhaps this is why each worker is given a phone book sized manual about possible skin diseases resulting from hazardous work conditions.  These conditions fall under the category of negligence by the plantation manager.  The workers should be provided with gloves.  Or better yet, pesticide bags should not be used.  They pollute the environment and contaminate the watershed, but more importantly, they cause physical illness and injury to the workers.

 

Why does the inspector get to wear gloves and eye protection?  These amenities are not that expensive.  But on the Del Monte banana plantation, they are a luxury reserved for only the most valued workers.  Perhaps it’s just another strategy to make the field workers understand that they are entirely disposable.  The inspector gets gloves.  The field workers do not.  It’s that simple.  Del Monte isn’t willing to invest anything in their unskilled labor force because that might make them feel valuable.  And with feelings of value come desires for better treatment.  Del Monte cannot afford to let its workers think that they could ever have rights or even protection from harmful insecticides.  In the eyes of Del Monte, the workers in the field are held at only slightly higher esteem than the insects that the bags are meant to kill.  However, with one mistake or worse, one push for better treatment, and the workers are exterminated in the corporate sense.  They are fired without remorse or support.  They are left only with corporate-controlled wage tokens and deadly skin diseases. 

Photos in this post by Rhianon Gutierrez

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