No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsBusinessCosta Rica propane fracas still at stalemate

Costa Rica propane fracas still at stalemate

The love-related legal conflict over Costa Rica’s largest distributor of cooking gas appeared far from over Monday as threats of a mass layoff of company workers came and went.

The company, Gas Zeta, has left thousands of customers in limbo – or eating cold dinners — since a Texas judge ordered its divorced owners, Miguel Zaragoza and Evangelina López, to split their assets. Costa Rican and U.S. judges have yet to agree on just who owns what part of the company.

Gas Zeta is responsible for supplying just over 70 percent of the national propane market and the conflict has left customers nationwide scrambling to find gas for nearly three weeks.

On Monday morning, the company’s lawyer, Sergio Artavia Barrantes, who was appointed by Zaragoza’s camp, said the firm was laying off 275 employees who failed to show up for work at two distribution plants. The measure, however, was cancelled on Monday evening when Artavia said the firm reached an agreement with Labor Vice Minister Harold Villegas Román and set a Thursday deadline for employees to return to their jobs.

Who’s the boss?

Employees of Gas Zeta have complained of being caught in the middle of the divorce dispute and left to wonder about their job security with few concrete answers. On Monday morning, before the layoff was cancelled, a group of some 50 employees demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court in downtown San José, demanding their labor rights be respected.

Felipe Mejía, a worker representative, confirmed Monday evening that none of them had received any notification of their alleged layoff, and said they were hoping the Supreme Court will soon issue a ruling on the company’s ownership.

“Customers should be aware that there is a judicial process pending resolution and any publication reporting alleged decisions on workers’ rights…is against the country’s legal system,” Mejía said.

The human resources manager on López’s side of the company, Ana Irene Villalobos Brenes, told The Tico Times that the layoff warning was false, as workers have kept working at the company’s other plants.

“We all are looking forward to the courts settling the dispute and ruling on who owns the company as soon as possible,” she said.

Trending Now

Costa Rica Replaces One-Lane Bridges as Traffic and Population Grow

As the infrastructure of Costa Rica advances, with new four-lane highways and a series of bypasses around San José that avoid the narrow, congested...

Costa Rica National Parks to Measure Tourism Impact

Costa Rica will now be able to measure the impact of tourism in its national parks, thanks to innovative environmental technology from The NeverRest...

Former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Faces Trial

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, who served as Costa Rica’s president from 1998 to 2002, returned to court on today, to face charges in the so-called...

End of Air Canada Strike Brings Relief for Costa Rica-Bound Passengers

Air Canada flight attendants ended their strike Tuesday after reaching a tentative agreement with the airline, paving the way for flights to resume gradually....

Guatemala Prisons Erupt in Violence With Guards and Workers Taken Hostage

Gang members rioted this Friday in two prisons in Guatemala and took several guards and civilian employees hostage, a week after uprisings in which...

Costa Rica Marks National Parks Day with Free Entry This Sunday

As everyone knows by now, our country stands out for its strong focus on protecting the environment. It leads in conservation efforts, manages its...
L. Arias
L. Arias
Reporter | The Tico Times |
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica