IUF

Ron Oswald, General Secretary

Luis Pedraza, IUF Latin America

COLSIBA

Guillermo Rivera, COLSIBA general coordinador

Ramón Barrantes, COLSIBA/COSIBA (Costa Rica)

CHIQUITA

Manuel Rodríguez, (Vice- President, Chiquita)

Jeff Zalla, (Vice-President, Corporate Affairs)

Jorge Solergilbert, (Legal Counsel Chiquita)

Technical Observer

Oscar Amaya, Sintraterco (Honduras)

ACTION POINTS ARISING FROM THE FOURTH IUF/COLSIBA – CHIQUITA REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING

(Panama City, Panama, January 23^rd , 2003)

1. Honduras.

The parties accept that, in general, Chiquita respects SITRATERCO’s right to organize and represent workers, and in general abides by the IUF/COLSIBA and CHIQUITA Agreement subscribed in Geneva on June 14^th, 2001. It is important, however, to take on as an urgent matter, the occupational health and safety issues raised by SITRATERCO around the "treated bag" issue. The IUF will prepare a proposal for an independent study of this issue to be performed by a WHO expert, at Chiquita’s expense. The results of the report will be held confidential.

More detailed discussion would be needed to determine how far this is true for Chiquita suppliers in Honduras. Generally all parties agreed that establishing positive employer/union relations in Honduras should be a priority.

2. Ecuador.

Although delayed due to various circumstances last year, Chiquita will initiate in February 2003 a confidential assessment and gap analysis of the farms belonging to its primary supplier in Ecuador (the Wong family), a sample of the Wongs’ suppliers (who provide roughly a third of the bananas), and farms supplying a small co-load deal to Italy in which Chiquita participates. Chiquita will report to the Review Committee on its findings and actions in the next Review Committee Meeting.

3. Occupational Health and Safety Pilot.

This project which was launched after the Third Review Committee Meeting was delayed by lack of availability of the parties’ representatives. The parties agree that in order to have the pilot move forward, the representatives must be people who have the necessary expertise and can dedicate a substantial amount of their time to this project. Chiquita has designated Carlos Roberto Acuña, its OHS manager to represent it in the project’s management. The IUF will designate an individual who can devote the necessary time and will seek the same from the ILO regional office in San Jose. The pilot activities will take place in Honduras and Colombia.

4. Costa Rica.

The allegations of union persecution in Costa Rica continue, including allegations of violations occurring in Chiquita farms. IUF/COLSIBA proposes to set up a program on three or four of the 28 non-union Chiquita farms in Costa Rica where it will carry out education workshops based on the Agreement and solicit union membership. The parties agree that the workshops would not interfere with normal production processes, that worker participation would be voluntary, and that the company will neither encourage nor discourage participation or membership. Chiquita would guarantee that no reprisals would be taken against any worker for participating in those activities or for joining a union. An initial meeting will be convened between Chiquita corporate and local management, IUF representatives, and local union representatives where the farms would be chosen and a general framework and objectives of the activities would be agreed. The actual activities would be held without Chiquita management participation.

5. Suppliers.

Chiquita agrees to devise a way to guarantee to IUF/COLSIBA that all its suppliers covered by the Agreement have been made aware of its existence and scope.

6. Nicaragua.

Chiquita will approach its Nicaraguan suppliers and report to the IUF on the feasibility of a joint Chiquita/IUF/COLSIBA assessment of the working conditions in the Nicaraguan farms. If the joint assessment is not possible, Chiquita and the IUF/COLSIBA will perform their assessments independently and share the results as appropriate. In any event, the parties will share with each other the dates of their intended visits to the country to perform the assessments.

7. European Market Access Issues.

There was agreement in principle that a tariff-only regime for the importation of third-country bananas by the European Union is almost certain to be detrimental to the banana producing countries where most of the IUF banana affiliates are located. Such a regime would favor those countries where low production costs are to a large extent the result of low wages and lack of respect for workers’ rights in general. The IUF indicated its intent to promote an internal meeting with representatives from its Latin American, European and Caribbean affiliates, as well as its European Regional Office, to decide on the feasibility of an IUF strategy on this issue. Numerous banana industry representatives would be invited to participate, and Chiquita would participate as a guest speaker in this meeting. Ron Oswald will communicate the meeting dates and participants.

8. U.S. Market Presentation.