In the Factories and in the Fields:
Talking Union with Women in Maquila Factories
and Banana Plantations

This spring, STITCH held an organizing workshop with STEYY, the Union of Yoo Yang Factory Workers in La Lima, Honduras. This new textile union won its first contract with management last December and is now focused on training and developing new leaders among its largely young, largely female workforce.

During that workshop, STEYY was joined by COSIBAH: the Coordination of Banana Unions in Honduras. The banana unions have a long and powerful history in Honduras, and many of the workers live and work in the same communities as the maquila workers. Also, COSIBAH has a strong women’s secretariat (about 20% of the banana workers in Honduras are female) and they were interested in exchanging experiences, as workers, union activists and women, with their newer counterparts in the maquila sector.

The women of the banana fields and the maquila factories concluded that they face many of the same problems at work: low wages, discrimination and an urgent need to organize their non-union colleagues in order for their unions to survive.

With STITCH’s support, they decided to continue the exchange of skills and support – with a focus on training new women leaders and organizing more workers in both the banana sectors and the maquila sectors. In this spirit, a group of 16 women representing COSIBAH, STEYY, and a team Honduran maquila union organizers joined together on Saturday, June 29, for a workshop on housevisits and organizing. First, they discussed how to respond to the "tough questions" put to activists by workers they visit, in any industry. Common, but hard, questions from workers everywhere are "What if they fire me for joining the union?" or "How will I have time to be in a union when I have a full-time job and household to run on my own?" The group practiced answering these and other questions through discussion and role-plays.

Then, they set off to practice in the field, in mixed teams of banana and maquila workers to visit workers at the Yoo Yang factory in preparation for upcoming salary negotiations. Fanning out throughout La Lima and surrounding communities, the women activists met with dozens of workers and spoke with them about the union and their concerns on the job. They succeeded in gathering information to help STEYY leadership address members’ questions and generated a renewed commitment by STEYY members to fight for a fair contract.

Activists from both STEYY and COSIBAH, women leaders from both the banana fields and maquila factories, were energized by the chance to learn and apply new skills with each other, and are enthusiastic about continuing these training exchanges in the future. Maria Elena Munoz (shown above), President of the STEYY union stressed – "Having solidarity with our companeras from the banana unions is so important – we can build stronger movements together."