Reference no: EM131702538

Question: The plaintiffs were seven Guatemalan citizens currently residing in the United States. Del Monte is a Delaware company; its principal place of business is in Coral Gables, Florida. In Guatemala, the plaintiffs were officers in SITRABI, a national trade union of plantation workers. At the time in question, they represented workers on a Bandegua banana plantation that was a wholly owned subsidiary of Del Monte. SITRABI and Bandegua were negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for workers at the plantation. While those negotiations were ongoing, Bandegua terminated 918 workers. SITRABI responded by filing a complaint in the Labor Court of Guatemala. The plaintiffs allege that on October 13, 1999, Bandegua hired a private, armed security force.

(Private security forces are permitted and regulated in Guatemala.) According to the plaintiffs, Del Monte agents met with the security force"to plan violent action against the Plaintiffs and other SITRABI leaders." According to the plaintiffs, at 5:45 p.m., the security force, which is described as "a gang of over 200 heavily armed men," arrived at SITRABI's headquarters. There, the security force held two plaintiffs hostage, threatened to kill them, and shoved them with guns. Throughout the evening, other SITRABI leaders were lured, abducted, or otherwise forced to the headquarters and similarly detained. The plaintiffs, at gunpoint, announced the labor dispute was over and that they were resigning. Do the plaintiffs have a cause of action against Del Monte in federal court? See Aldana v. Del Monte Fresh Produce, NA, Inc., 416 F.3d 1242 (11th Cir. 2005).