Teachers’ unions representing some 70,000 educators agreed to a proposal Monday presented by the Catholic Church to put an end to a strike that has dragged on for nearly a month and complicated the start to President Luis Guillermo Solís’ term.
Education Minister Sonia Marta Mora on Friday morning met with supervisors of Costa Rica's 27 school districts and asked for a full report of teachers who do not report to work on Monday.
Education Minister Sonia Marta Mora on Wednesday evening said the government will no longer negotiate with unions until teachers return to the classrooms.
Former Education Minister Leonardo Garnier on Wednesday evening said that a backlog in payment of public teachers’ salaries did not originate from the transition to a new computer system, but rather from problems caused by the old payment system.
As the teachers’ strike entered its third week and a possible general strike loomed, Education Minister Sonia Mora announced an agreement with the Costa Rican Banking Association to pay thousands of teachers back pay dating back six months in some cases.
In his first national televised address Sunday night, President Luis Guillermo Solís asked public school teachers to end a two-week strike and return to the classrooms, despite a failure to reach agreement on when teachers would receive their back pay.
Hundreds of public educators on Thursday blocked the main access roads to the southeastern San José district of Zapote, where Casa Presidencial is located, in the second week of a nationwide strike over back pay.
