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CCSS and Employees Reach
Settlement, Strike Avoided
The strike by the workers of the
Caja Costarricense de Seguro
Social (CCSS) will not go on
strike tomorrow as had been
announced last week, following
the reaching of a last minute
agreement between the workers
and Caja (CCSS) officials, in
effort to avoid the disruption
of medical services.
The workers had been seeking
better pay and better working
conditions.
In the agreement, workers will
be getting a salary increase
beginning in July of this year
and 2.000 more jobs will be
available, in different sectors,
to better the working conditions
that are now dismal, according
to union leaders.
For Eduardo Doryan Garrón,
president of the CCSS, said that
the agreement reaffirms the
CCSS's commitment to increase
the salaries of its workers,
bringing it to levels of other
public institutions as well as
private companies.
The executive added that the
CCSS recognizes that the human
resources is an essential factor
of the institution, as they
provide daily services to the
public. Garrón added that in the
latest public inquiry, the
public considers the institution
offering quality services.
The debate over salaries had
been going on for months, but it
wasn't until last week when the
union announced the decision for
strike action that CCSS
executives decided to negotiate
seriously, according to union
leaders.
Some 42.000 workers belong to
the Unión Nacional de Empleados
de la Caja y la Seguridad Social
(Undeca).
The strike action had been set
for 6:00am Tuesday morning and
Luis Chavarría, secretary
general of Undeca, had asked the
public to not show up for the
scheduled appointments as there
would be no services at any of
the public hospitals and clinics
that day.
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