The administrative staff of Chiquita Panama has abandoned the country and the company will request authorization from the Government to fire the personnel in Panamathe Minister of Labor of the Central American Nation, Jackeline Muñoz, reported Monday.
The news occurs after The company dismissed some 5,000 workers last month of a total of 6,500 employees throughout the country in response to a strike in its banana farms.
Chiquita Panama did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The company said on May 22 that it had fired workers in the western province Bocas del Toro after what it called an “unjustified abandonment of work” in its banana farms that began at the end of April.
The company then declared that the losses caused by the strike amounted to US $ 75 million at that time.
Thousands of workers in the banana sector have declared on strike while Panamanians from all over the country protest against several issues, Among them a social security reform that, according to them, will affect their future pensions.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino described the illegal and illegitimate strike.
