The Costa Rican banana and pineapple producer Grupo Acón is responding to allegations made by a labour union (pubilshed on 21 June, 2023) SITRAP that a third-party contractor hired to oversee hiring practices at two of their farms violated worker rights.
“Grupo Acón was made aware last week of allegations towards a third-party contractor hired to oversee hiring practices at two of our Costa Rican farms.
"From the moment we were notified in regards to a complaint from a third-party contracted employee at one of our manual labor services, we then investigated the issue. To say we are troubled at hearing the details of these allegations is an understatement and goes against all that Grupo Acón stands for. As a family-owned business, we take social responsibility seriously and have dedicated our time and efforts to building up the people and communities around us. Our company’s ethical, social, and human rights politics do not tolerate any mistreatment or abuse of any kind against one of our employees, including those employed externally from one of our manual labor service contractors.
Since being made aware of these allegations, we initiated a thorough investigation and have swiftly taken the appropriate action by ending our agreement with the third-party contractor, effective immediately as of last week. To avoid a reoccurrence of events in the future, we have developed an additional procedure for selection control and contracting of any third-party supplier in our farms. This document includes the participation of different departments and regulates the way in which contractors will be approved by our company. Additionally, a weekly control is being required by the Comptrollership and Human Resources Departments so that the documentation related to all sub-contracted employees can be duly available at the farm where they will be providing services. This procedure will apply to contractors who may be providing some type of service at this time as well as to future third parties that could be hired by the company."
For more information:
Grupo Acón
[email protected].