Silver Rose for trade union heroine

Iris Munguia, a former banana worker herself, will receive a Silver Rose prize next week in Brussels from Solidar, a network of 56 non-governmental organisations in over 90 countries that promotes social justice in Europe and worldwide.

The presentation ceremony on March 6 will coincide with events to mark International Women's Day.

Solidar secretary-general Conny Reuter said: "Iris Munguia is a worker who has struggled for more solidarity and social justice, who has paved the way for a whole generation of woman banana workers fighting for the recognition of their rights."

Ms Munguia has campaigned for decades for the rights of workers, particularly women, in the Chiquita packhouse where she worked in La Lima, Honduras.

She has helped ensure that wages for workers on plantations which recognise collective bargaining are higher - £7 a day - than elsewhere.

Last year Ms Munguia was voted in as the first female coordinator of Colsiba, the Co-ordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agro-industrial Workers.