The EU-Ecuador trade agreement must work to protect workers’ rights in the banana industry
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Action Aid | 24 September 2025
The EU-Ecuador trade agreement must work to protect workers’ rights in the banana industry
- Press release
Ecuadorian trade union ASTAC and its European partners ActionAid France, FIDH,
ASTM Luxembourg and Baldon Avocats denounce the outrageous lack of human
rights and environmental protections in the banana industry under the EU-Ecuador
Trade Agreement. This action is taking place in a context of mobilisation by civil
society and political leaders to hold multinational corporations accountable for the
negative impacts of their activities throughout their supply chains.
Brussels, 24 September 2025 – Ecuador is one of the world’s leading producers and
exporters of bananas, with its exports accounting for 30% of the global banana market.
Millions of tons of its bananas reach markets worldwide annually, with the EU being its main
buyer. In 2017, Ecuador, together with Colombia and Peru, joined a Trade Agreement with
the European Union, committing to guarantee and promote fundamental labour, human
rights and environmental standards under the Agreement’s Chapter 9 on trade and
sustainable Development.
The Ecuadorian industry trade union ASTAC (Agricultural Workers and Farmers Trade Union
Association) has been working for over a decade to improve labour rights, health and safety
for workers and communities, as well as to contain the negative impacts on the environment.
Together with the European organisations ActionAid France, FIDH, ASTM-Luxembourg and
Baldon Avocats, the union submitted a complaint to the European Commission, responsible
for implementing the EU-Ecuador Trade Agreement, highlighting failures to protect human
rights and the environment in the banana industry, in violation of the standards set out in
Chapter 9.
"Workers in the banana industry in Ecuador continue to face very difficult working conditions:
low wages, long working hours, lack of social protection... The lack of adequate regulation
and supervision by the state has allowed these practices to continue without consequences
for employers. This creates a cycle of poverty and vulnerability in which workers are trapped,
even though we are talking about a sector that generates economic benefits," explains
Jorge Acosta, Founder and Coordinator of ASTAC.
This complaint focuses in particular on the failure to respect freedom of association and the
right to collective bargaining, the criminalisation of union members, the failure to respect
labour law, the failure to respect environmental law, and the state’s inaction in response to
pesticide poisoning affecting workers. At a time when human rights are increasingly under
threat, it is essential to take into account the analyses and recommendations of those
directly affected by abuses by companies and States, and to ensure that all mechanisms can
be a real tool for protecting rights and the environment.
Note to editors:
Two ASTAC members are currently on a European tour. They will be in Brussels from 23 to
28 September, then in Paris from 28 September to 1 October 2025. They are available for
interviews in Spanish, with the possibility of interpretation in French or English.
Press contacts
ASTAC – José Barahona, Lawyer- dpto.legal.astac@gmail.com, +593 99 878 3981 // Diana
Montoya, Coordinator, diana.astac@gmail.com, +593 98 676 3997
ActionAid France – Chloé Rousset, Corporate Accountability and Decent Work
Campaigner, chloe.rousset@actionaid.org
FIDH – Lucia Posteraro, Press Officer, +33781212605, lposteraro@fidh.org
