Fyffes, the Irish multinational fruit company, has rejected criticism of its treatment of banana workers in Belize.

A union leader from the Central American country, Ms Marciana Funez, said a meeting yesterday with Mr Neil McCann, the chairman of Fyffes, to negotiate union recognition and discuss allegedly unhealthy plantation living conditions for up to 400 workers was "very unsuccessful".

A Fyffes spokeswoman denied the meeting was a negotiation and questioned the bona fides under Belize law of Ms Funez's union. The company had inherited a housing situation and by its own initiative was now the main sponsor of a housing scheme that had so far accommodated 80 workers at a safe distance from chemical spraying.

Ms Funez together with the singer, Christy Moore, and Ms Grainne Davitt, grand daughter of the 1879 Land League founder, Michael Davitt will lead today's Action From Ireland (AFrI) famine march from Doolough to Louisburgh, Co Mayo.