Opinion ID: 77033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: background factual allegations

Text: 68 22. Defendant Del Monte, Inc. is one of the world's largest producers and distributors of bananas. One of its major sources of bananas is Guatemala. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Defendants Del Monte Fresh and Bandegua, Del Monte, Inc. owns, leases and/or operates banana plantations in Guatemala. Among the plantations it owns and operates in Guatemala is the Zaculeu Lanquin Arapahoe Plantation in the Bobos District Municipality of Morales Izabal (hereinafter referred to as the Bobos plantation). 69 23. In September and October, 1999, when the wrongful acts alleged herein occurred, the Bobos plantation was owned and operated by Bandegua through the General Manager employed by Bandegua, Jorge Arturo Osborne Escalante. 70 24. The workers at the Bobos plantation were represented by SITRABI, a national trade union of plantation workers affiliated to the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco, and Allied Workers' Associations (hereinafter referred to as IUF). Plaintiffs, as is described more fully below, were all officers of SITRABI's union at the Bobos plantation. 71 25. Guatemala is widely known as a country that is struggling to maintain peace and reduce violence and armed conflict. However, the country also officially permits and regulates the use of private, armed security forces. The Ministry of Interior has specific jurisdiction to regulate these private security forces, and commonly allows them to operate. 72 26. Defendant Del Monte, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Bandegua, were engaged in negotiations with SITRABI for a new collective bargaining agreement covering the workers at the Bobos plantation. Defendant Del Monte, Inc. through its regional agents, including but not limited to Defendant Del Monte Fresh, was directly involved in these negotiations. Without legal justification, and in violation of the operative collective bargaining agreement, Defendants Del Monte, Inc., Del Monte Fresh, and Bandegua terminated 918 workers at the Bobos plantation, all of whom who were members of SITRABI. 73 27. In response to the illegal termination of 918 of its members who were employed at the Bobos plantation, SITRABI filed an appropriate complaint in the Labor Court of Guatemala and also continued in good faith its negotiations with Defendants.