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Unions Vow Protests and Strikes
Against the TLC
Now that the report on the
Tratado Libre de Comercio (TLC)
- free trade agreement with the
United States - by the Comisión
de Notables is in, union leaders
are getting ready for strikes
and protests.
President Abel Pacheco said that
he will give his opinion on the
report on Tuesday.
Union leaders say that they will
block the Rotonda de la
Hispanidad en San Pedro de
Montes de Oca (front of San
Pedro Mall), and will march onto
Casa Presidencial less than two
kilometres away in Zapote.
Expteced in the blockades and
march are workers of the
Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA)
- water and sewers company - and
Instituto Nacional de Seguros
(INS) - national insurance
company - alongside students,
teachers, professors and
municipal workers. Interestingly
workers of the Institutio
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE)- the national power and
telecommunications company -
have not mentioned their
participation.
This group is against the
approval of the TLC, while
another group who is in favour
of the TLC is using the media to
communicate their opinion,
including radio and television
commercials that say the TLC
will promote jobs for Costa
Ricans.
For their part, Albino Vargas,
president of the Asociación
Nacional de Empleados Públicos y
Privados (ANEP) - one of the
largest unions - says that if
the TLC is sent to the
Legislative Assembly, it will be
the spearhead for political and
social actions to derail the
TLC.
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