Low Turn Out For May 1st March
With some delays and less attendance from the past years, workers marched on Avenida Segunda as part of the celebrations of "el dia del trabajador" - labour day.

With few signs and the lack of important political personalities as it has been in the past, the workers said "NO to the TLC".

According to Édgar Morales, secretary general of the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, this is a good moment to defend public institutions with problems, like the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) and the Ministerio de Salud (Health).

For the union leader the politicians are responsible for what is happening with the institutions, saying "we have permitted them to ransack and paralyze our institutions".

For his part, Gilberth Díaz, president of the Sindicato de la Educación Costarricense, said that he prefers to store the force of the workers for when it is time for the referendum, defending the low turnout "What is important is that workers don't lose the tradition of May 1", said Díaz.

The march by the workers was uneventful, there were no roadblocks and no large manifestations, reaching the Legislative Assembly, where the traditional march ended.