Chile could face social dumping charges

Chile’s vast export industry has come into question by non-governmental organizations (NGO) due to the serious labour and environmental conditions faced by workers. Chile is rapidly becoming one of the worlds major producer of agricultural products and salmon consumed in Europe, Canada and United States.

Local NGO’s charge that poor labour and environmental conditions give Chile an unfair economic advantage or social dumping that keep its single crop export industry growing and keep low prices.

In fact during this year’s presidential elections ruling Concertación presidential candidate pledges to turn Chile in a short period of time into an agro-industrial powerhouse taking full advantage of the country’s climate and landscape.

Another area Chile is about to become the major world producer is in the salmon industry. It is expected that by 2010, Chile will produce a third of the salmon consumed in the world.

But non-governmental organisations are worried about the labour conditions faced by workers in the fields and salmon farms. Low wages and unsafe working conditions are the norm in both industries say local NGO’s.

Most workers are contract labour that have little job and environmental security. These conditions according to the NGO’s give Chile an unfair economic advantage over competitors.

NGO’s say the farming industry uses double the pesticides per acre than anywhere else in the world. They charge that the mostly women workers are given little protection, so it is common to see more than three-thousand acute pesticide poisoning per season, a third lands workers in hospital while others symptoms like nausea, vomiting and rashes go unreported.

While in the salmon farms eight divers have died this year due to the harsh working environment in frigid waters of the south.

“If one looks at the labour and environmental conditions of the export industry, without doubt there is an transferring of social and environmental cost,” Lucio Cuenca said.

Cuenca, leads Chile’s chapter of the Latin American Environmental Observatory (OLCA). He points out these working conditions and “the lack of concern for environment give exporters an unfair market advantage.”

“The major production costs in the salmon industry, fruits and other products that are exported are absorbed by all Chileans and than can be considered social and environmental dumping.”


Although he agrees Cristián Gutiérrez, an economist with the international NGO Oceana, said “it remains a point of debate proving what constitute social and environmental dumping” and “how it can be incorporated into trade treaties.”

“Chilean exporters benefit due to lax government labour and environmental regulation,” Gutiérrez said.

That reality accompanied with bad labour and environmental practices it borders on social and environmental dumping.

“The contract labour that happens in the salmon industry also happens in the agro-export business. Workers are exploited are in a similar way,” Gutiérrez said.

“Both industries respond to a common monopolistic single crop export business model that violates labour legislation: it pays low wages and treats workers poorly.”

Gutiérrez says this production model denies the social development and a “good quality of life for those who work in the industry.” To Gutiérrez this production model is unsustainable, he invites consumers to play a role in understanding the origin and how the products they consume are produced.

For his part ruling government Congressman Aníbal Pérez is worried about the labour conditions workers see each day.

He wants to create a partnership with U.S. and European labour and consumer a watchdog “that monitors and checks for good or bad labour and environmental practices” and “it could issue an ethic seal of approval” to products that meet good labour and environmental practices.

“We have to create a monitoring group made up of European and American labour groups that can verify Chile complies with its environmental and labour laws,” Pérez said.

According to the congressman that is the only way Chile can “avoid an accusation of social dumping.”

“An accusation of social dumping would be grave to Chile,” Pérez said.

“Exporters have not paid attention that we are in a difficult situation. Our image abroad as a successful economy could in fact be severely damaged if an accusation is made to international organizations of serious violations to labour and environmental laws.”

Pérez says following the year-end elections he will visit U.S. politicians and labour organizations to make them aware of the serious social and environmental dumping taking place.

Pérez calls Chile’s current labour and environmental situation a “yellow warning light” that if not heeded “it could ground to a halt the successful Chilean export economy.”