Chiquita fires thousands of striking banana workers in Panama

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PANAMA CITY — Banana giant Chiquita Brands has fired its workers in Panama who have been out on strike for more than three weeks as part of nationwide protests against reforms to the social security system, the company said Thursday.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino had said earlier Thursday that the strike was illegal and included some 5,000 workers.

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“Unfortunately, following the unjustified abandonment of work at our plantations and operations centers since April 28 and continuing today, (the company) has proceeded with the termination of all of our daily workers,” the company said in a statement. It said the company had suffered losses of at least $75 million.

Mulino, speaking at his weekly press briefing Thursday morning, had blamed the leader of the banana workers union.

“We don’t know how to talk to (union) leader Francisco Smith about the enormous damage his intransigence is causing the Bocas del Toro job sector,” Mulino said. Bocas del Toro is Panama’s westernmost province and borders Costa Rica.

The union did not immediately comment.

Protests marches and occasional roadblocks have stretched from one end of the country to the other as teachers, construction workers and other unions expressed their rejection to changes the government said were necessary to keep the social security system solvent.