Vehicle passage along a stretch of San José's Second Avenue will be closed from 2 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday for the opening ceremony of the International Arts Festival.
Health Minister Fernando Llorca Castro will replace Sáenz starting Thursday and Vice Minister María Esther Anchía will temporarily work as Health Minister.
Caja Pension Manager Jaime Barrantes said they will evaluate the unions' petition along with others that they have received from other groups in recent days.
Union leaders hope to block vehicle traffic along the capital’s Second Avenue, in front of the Caja’s main building, to get the institution's attention.
May Day in Costa Rica brought together protesters from public workers unions and a wide variety of other groups, including students, sex workers and indigenous people.
Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solís on Wednesday denied that he or anyone else from his administration had previously reached an agreement with public unions over a national strike held last Monday.
The call for a nationwide strike by public workers’ unions on Monday had only moderate support. But it did lead to the cancellation of at least 86 surgeries at three hospitals.
Hundreds of public employees from Costa Rican schools, universities and hospitals on Friday morning marched from downtown San José to Casa Presidencial, in the southeast district of Zapote, to oppose government-proposed salary measures.
