ICE and Limón Port
Workers To Go On Strike
Monday
Come Monday workers of
the the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) and
the Junta de
Administración Portuaria
y de Desarrollo
Económico de la
Vertiente Atlántica (Japdeva),
joined by a number of
teachers, will take to
the streets in protest.
The strike action is
expected to included
worker members of the
Asociación de Profesores
de Segunda Enseñanza
(APSE) - one of the
largest teacher's union
- leaving the classrooms
without teachers.
The reason for the
strike action is to
protest the
implementation of the
Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the
United States, Central
America and the
Dominican Republic, the
government's plan to
offer the Caribbean
ports on concession and
the low salaries of some
of the teachers.
Jorge Arguedas, co-ordinator
of the Frente Interno de
Trabajadores del ICE
(FIT-ICE), said the the
day of protest will be
felt all over the
country as the unions
attempt to paralyze
important public
services, affecting
telecommunications,
electrical energy, port
operations and schools.
"We want Costa Ricans to
know that with this law
(the TLC) they will see
rates in
telecommunications and
electricitiy increase by
300%", said Arguedas.
The unions would not say
if there were going to
be marches on the
streets of San José and
other major centres
around the country, or
just would be a
concentration of workers
in various locations,
like in front of the ICE
building in La Sabana,
the Legislative Assemby
and Casa Presidencial.
"I am not fully aware of
the plans, they will be
make public with time,
but for the government
the implementationo f
the TLC, the
complimentary laws, the
laws strenghtening ICE
and the concession of
the Limón ports will not
stop", said the ministro
de la Presidencia,
Rodrigo Arias.
However, the minister,
added that the
government is always
willing to dialogue with
the workers. "From our
point of view we will
continue forward to have
conversations over the
requests made by the
unions", said Arias.
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