Quito There were widespread estimates of the size of the workforce in high dollar export agriculture of bananas and flowers in Ecuador, ranging from a million in each to a more realistic figure of 500,000 in each or perhaps, as one expert offered, 360,000 in bananas and a similar number in flowers. Either way 700,000 …
Month: August 2007
Subcontracting
Quito Talking to people about workers and working conditions in Quito, repeatedly the problem of subcontracting came up quickly. This was not the usual run of the mill, subcontracting but a situation of legal avoidance brought to an extreme. Every enterprise was required by law to pay formal workers in public or …
Short Shots
Quito In another setback for globalization DHL did not come through, so this is another "thumbnail" report – literally. Tom Robbins wrote a book about a cowgirl years ago, when I still read fiction, who had a huge hitch-hiking thumb. To think another couple of days like this and I might have two thumbs like …