In March, the government of José Raúl Mulino, president of Panama, announced plans to reform the country’s social security system, sparking widespread protests by unions organizing teachers, nurses, construction workers and banana farmworkers. He approved the “reform” law March 18. It increases what workers will pay into their pension funds while getting lower benefits, and leaves open an increase of the retirement age.
“With the number of ‘reforms’ introduced, we’re going to end up with pensions of hunger and misery, and future generations will be harmed,” Diógenes Sánchez, a leader of the teachers’ union, told the media.
Union officials agreed June 11 to remove roadblocks put up during a monthlong strike by banana workers in Bocas del Toro province, paralyzing production on plantations belonging to U.S. giant Chiquita. In exchange, representatives of the country’s legislature agreed to allow early retirement and some other protections for plantation workers.
The Mulino government deployed over 1,500 police officers to reopen blocked roads. Using acts of vandalism and looting carried out by unidentified individuals as a pretext, it declared a five-day state of emergency suspending the rights of assembly and free movement. Compliant judges sided with Chiquita, declaring the banana workers strike illegal. The company closed down operations, leaving thousands without jobs. The bosses have threatened to leave the country.
Dozens of protesters and several union leaders have been arrested. On July 17, Ministry of Labor Jackeline Muñoz filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the National Union of Construction Industry and Related Workers (Suntracs). Claiming the union is run by vicious mobsters, she says these moves don’t represent an attack on the unions or on freedom of association!
Chiquita controls 90% of Panama’s banana production, the country’s main export. Formerly known as United Fruit Company, the U.S. multinational has used its economic and political power to profit off super-exploitation in Latin American and Caribbean countries since 1899.
A powerful description of these conditions is described in Mamita Yunai, the famous novel by Costa Rican author Carlos Luis Fallas, published in 1941 and also available in English. Fallas draws on his experience working on a United Fruit banana plantation and as a Communist Party member.
The story gives the reader a vivid portrayal of workers’ resilience and solidarity as they fight United Fruit for dignity and justice.
While the protests against the changes to the social security law have been the most sustained, demonstrators have raised a multitude of grievances. This includes opposition to the agreements between the Mulino government and Washington establishing “cost-neutral” passage of U.S. warships through the Panama Canal and on environmental issues. Washington’s imposition of special treatment in the Panama Canal is seen by many toilers as an affront to Panama’s national sovereignty.