General Strike of 1954

Former lawyer for the United Fruit Company, Juan Manuel Gálvez Durón became president of Honduras in 1954. He directly succeeded Tiburcio Carías Andino, who severely the civic freedoms of the Honduran people during his presidency. Due to this, Durón undertook the task of modernizing the weak state structures of the country. He initiated a policy of reconstructing the political apparatus that improved the civic freedoms of the people. His presidency was short, and the biggest conflict he had to face was the strike of Honduran workers of the United Fruit company. These workers protested due to the harsh working conditions that they were experiencing.

During the 1950s,  Honduras was known to have a large gap between a few rich citizens and many poor laborers. In 1952, Honduras held its first agrarian census, resulting in the wealthy landowners to own over half the land in Honduras. To make matters worse, the wealthy landowners did not use this land effectively. Even the fruit companies that owned land in Honduras held most of their earnings, instead of providing fruit and monetary earnings to farmers. This led to the General Strike of 1954, in which the poor laborers fought against the wealthy.

While the United Fruit Company was one of the most powerful organizations during this time, unhappy workers waged a strike against the company. The strike began when workers argued that they should receive double holiday pay as stated by law, which is a part of the policy that Durón initiated. As a result, some companies had to shut down, which included a Honduran brewery. It was shut down due to four hundred workers demanding a fifty-percent wage, as well as vacation pay, more medical care, and strike pay.

United Fruit began making negotiations with its workers, marking the first time a private corporation reached a collective agreement with protestors in Honduras. The company agreed to increase wages and improve the working conditions of the workers. While the strike was not successful in meeting all the workers’ demands, it is not viewed as a failure. It is significant in that the protest resulted in change, the first in Honduras.

Works Cited

Musynske, Gavin. (2011, May 18). United Fruit Company campaign for economic justice, Honduras, 1954. Global Nonviolent Action Database. https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/united-fruit-company-laborers-campaign-economic-justice-honduras-1954

(1954, May 18). Strike of 400 Shuts Down Honduran Brewery. The New York Times, pp. 10.

By Emilee Haines