The lives of the young workers at the Legumex factory in Guatemala are about to change for the better. On Sunday, March 18, the highly respected independent Guatemalan human rights organization, CEADEL, had its first face-to-face meeting with Legumex management which resulted in an agreement that will bring many significant and positive changes to the Legumex factory.
The details of the agreement are still being worked out, and will be signed later this week, but the main points are:
-
Twenty-four 13-year-old children who worked at the Legumex plant will receive a stipend to return to school. The stipend, or severance package, is being worked out now. The child workers will have the option of returning to the factory when they are of legal age.
-
CEADEL representatives will have unprecedented access to the Legumex plant—including unannounced surprise visits—to review factory conditions and speak with the workers. On the basis of these audits, CEADEL will be able to make ongoing recommendations to factory management. On their part, management says they are wiling and open to continually improving conditions so that Legumex emerges as a model factory.
-
Gabriel Zelada, director of CEADEL—The Center for Study and Support for Local Development—described the negotiations and tentative agreement as “a complete success because the workers, their organization and the company will win.”
-
Superior Foods in Watsonville, California has played a very positive role by working quickly and seriously with factory management to encourage and help bring about these changes. Equally important, they and their customers have resisted the easier option of discontinuing business with Legumex. They have instead committed to continue to purchase products so that their financial support of the enterprises will give the workers and the growers a real chance at a better and sustainable future. Inn Foods, also of California and a minor importer from Legumex, has played a positive role as well.
[NOTE on the educational stipend: CEADEL, which is accredited by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education as an official educational institution, estimates that the minimum yearly stipend necessary to return the child workers to school would total $983.14 per student. To survive, the former child workers would need a subsistence stipend equal to at least one week's pay per month, or $49.22, and $590.64 for the year. In addition, direct educational costs--including infrastructure, books and a teacher--would amount to $392.50 per year per student, for a total of $983.14. For all 24 thirteen-year-old workers, the total minimum cost would be $23,595.36 for the year. Hopefully, the educational stipend can be negotiated upwards of this bare bones minimum.]
UPDATE 3/23/2007
Sysco, the largest food service company in the United States, has also indicated that they would strongly consider placing orders at the Legumex plant once the agreed upon reforms are implemented, bringing the plant into full compliance with Guatemalan law. Superior Foods has clarified that, prior to this point, Sysco has not purchased products from the Legumex factory.
signed by Legumex management and CEADEL
|
