FYFFES has moved towards settling the dispute which has affected its banana operations in Belize since a bitter strike last June.
Ireland's 12th largest publicly quoted company has affirmed its commitment to recognising the United Banners Banana Workers' Union and will almost certainly be providing grants for workers to build their own homes.
The company said that, as soon as the union could show the independent Labour commissioner that it had support from 51 per cent of the Fyffes's workforce on the farms, it would be recognised.
A spokesman added it would "seriously consider" a proposal to allow workers a grant for building materials to upgrade their homes. A source close to the company said this would "certainly" go through.
A union spokesman said he welcomed this significant gesture from Fyffes.
The dispute has been over what have been described as "appalling" living conditions on the farms which Fyffes manages and owns in the area.
Fyffes manages two farms and owns a third in the Stann Creek district in south east Belize, close to both the Guatemalan and Honduban borders.
The three Fyffes farms are located in Cowpen village, where migrant workers built their homes alongside the banana farms. The ramshackle collection of huts, home of many of Fyffes's 400 workers, is held together by cardboard and tar paper, lacking water, health and sanitary facilities.
Chemicals are sprayed from planes on to the banana plants, training into ditches where women cook, clean and prepare food. There are no latrines and families relieve themselves close to their homes, increasing the risk of illness.
"We have a problem with skin and eye diseases, but even diarrhoea has taken lives," said Ms Marciana Funez, a local woman who helped established the union.
A Fyffes financed housing project was recently inaugurated at Cowpen village where over 20 homes have been built, the first phase of a project which will relocate workers away from the chemical spray area. Workers express anxiety that the new village will be a Fyffes "company town", controlled by the firm.
"This is why we welcome any commitment the company can give to help workers build their own homes in other areas close to the farms," a union representative said. "The tin for a roof can cost as much as $800 and obviously a payment towards this would be welcomed by all workers."
Fyffes has been involved in, Belize's banana export industry since the 1970s, but only became involved in production and management at the request of Belize's government, in 1991.
