Costa Rica Unions Protest to IOL
Costa Rica´s Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) - Social Security System - and Workers Union (UNDECA) denounced the Costa Rican government before the International Organization of Labor (IOL) for prohibiting expression of their opinions against the Tratado Libre de Comercio (TLC) - free trade agreement with the United States.

According to UNDECA secretary, Luis Chavarría, institutional authorities attempted to control and restrict union activities regarding that issue.

The union leader revealed that the Government agreed to instruct the Management of the Medical and Administrative Division to prevent workers from using its resources to demonstrate their rejection of the TLC.

"Forbidding unions to make propaganda against this treaty seriously harms the right of the workers to freely express their opinions on the matter,"

Chavarría stressed, and explained that those who have spent millions to ratify the trade agreement are the very same government authorities.

Social organizations with scant material resources have made all the effort to inform on the contents and reach of these agreements to students, workers and the population in general.

That is why they request that the IOL process and declare the validity of the complaint and expect the international organization to warn the government on the need to comply with its international measures in union matters.