Limón Stike Over
Following four days of violence, the announcement came yesterday morning that the strike by the dockworkers of the Port of Limón is over, the government and the union reaching an agreement.

The first compromise made under the agreement was the payment of some ¢470 million colones by the government to the workers of the Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica (JAPDEVA) that was due to them under a 2005 collective agreement.

The government and leaders of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA (SINTRAJAP) union have agreed to meet next Monday to continue talks on the two key issues remaining: the strenghtening and modernization of JAPDEVA in the face of the free trade agreement with the United States that is expected to be ratified by the end of the year.

For Leroy Pérez, press secretary for Sintrajap "this is very important, now that we have room for dialogue, as the government has always insisted on privatization, but now is ready to discuss it".

Labour Minister, Francisco Morales, expressed satisfaction on the agreement, saying "all the efforts the government made to pay the workers was to open room for talks. The government's position goes beyond privatization".

Under the agreement, workers will have their pay docked for the four days they went on strike and in return the government will not sanction any worker, nor union leaders, who took part in the protests.

The JAPDEVA workers initially went on strike weeks ago when they asked for the government to make good on the payment negotiated by the former administration.

Following the announcement that the government had found the money to pay them, the union leaders announced their position against privatization and the government was forced to move police officers to stabilize port operations, while JAPDEVA workers went on work to rule.

Earlier this week tension mounted and the ports of Limón were completely idle as workers walked off the job, leaving behind huge financial losses for area businesses, including the announcement that a number of cruise liners were going to detour Costa Rica.

Costa Rican president Oscar Arias said yesterday that Limón and especially the docks, need a large financial investment that the government does not have the resources and will require private sector participation.

Arias has made it clear that the Limón docks will not be sold to private hands, but rather, will work with the private sector giving them concessions to operate and modernize the docks.