A Canary Islands union has threatened a strike from banana workers if the local grower association does not sit down to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, website Eldia.es reported.

In a joint statement, General Workers Union (UGT) Canarias general secretary Gustavo Santana and UGT National agriculture secretary Miguel Rodríguez criticized the postponement of the process that had been going on for five months.

"You have to speak to them in the language that hurts them most," they were quoted as saying.

UGP alleged the Association of Banana Producers of the Canaries (Asproccan) and the Regional Group of Canary Banana Growers Cooperatives (Coplaca) had a "strategy" to claim a union contract was invalid upon expiration, so they could switch to a model based on the Workers Statute, the story reported.

The story reported UGT claimed the motive was allegedly so that growers could fire employees and hire new staff with lower wages and poorer working conditions.

The union claimed the average salary of some 12,000 banana workers stood at around €900 (US$953.32) per month.

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