Strike Action Resulted
In A Mixed Bag
The strike action by
workers of the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) and
teachers was a mixed, as
ICE workers protested
the ratification of the
free trade deal and
teachers the continuing
problems with their pay.
In total a couple of
hundred people gathered
in front of the ICE
offices in La Sabana to
protest, of which less
than 100 were ICE
employees, according to
Elbert Durán, press
agent for the state
institution.
Fabio Chavez, president
of the ICE union, said
that a letter by ICE
president, Pablo Quirós,
quashed mass
participation in the
strike.
At ICE agencies around
San José work went on as
normal and though there
was a complete shut down
of services in the first
hours of the day at the
Avenida Tres agency in
the heart of San José,
services were not
paralyzed as the
strikers had predicted.
The teachers union APSE,
on the other hand,
reported that 90% of its
membership was out on
strike and that schools
like the amuel Sáenz in
Heredia, the high
schools on the southside
of San José, the
Napoleón Quesada, the
Vargas Calvo, the
Técnico de San Sebastián
the Ricardo Fernández,
for example, were all
closed.
However, the Ministerio
de Educación Pública (MEP)
had a different story to
tell. The MEP minister,
Leonardo Garnier, had a
different story to tell.
A large number of
teachers took to the
streets on downtown San
José, blocking traffic
along Paseo Colon and
Avenida Segunda in
downtown San José. The
teachers gathered at the
Parque Central marched
over to the MEP offices
on Paseo Colon to hand
the education minister a
letter asking him to fix
the salary problems and
to reduce the number of
students in each
classroom.
APSE says that if the
minister does not heed
to their demands, there
will be another strike
on March 31.
In Limón, the strike
action by the JAPDEVA
workers affected the
docking of the Carnival
Miracle cruise liner,
taking away 2.300
tourists from the local
economy, according to a
spokesperson for Japdeva.
A second cruise line,
the Saga Ruby, did
manage to dock and
without interruptions.
The loss in monetary
terms was calculated at
¢140 million colones
(us$283.000) to local
vendors, artisans, tour
operators,
transportation
companies, restaurants
and retail shops in the
heart of the province,
who all depend on the
cruise liners to bring
in spending tourists.
The amount does not
include the loss to the
container ships that use
the ports to load and
unload shipments of
vegetable oil, coffee,
fruit like banana,
pineapple and melon.
The dock workers are
against the
modernization of the
ports and the
government's plans to
offer the ports on
concession. |
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