Soon after striking longshoremen reached a partial deal with the Atlantic Port Authority, JAPDEVA, to return to work Thursday, a court in Limón declared the strike illegal, rejecting the union’s appeal filed Monday.
More than 1,500 dockworkers affiliated with the union SINTRAJAP went on strike for 16 days, yet the Atlantic Port Authority's (JAPDEVA) board of directors on Wednesday voted to pay them full wages for their time away from the job. In response, the Libertarian Movement Party's top lawmaker, Otto Guevara, on Thursday filed a criminal complaint alleging embezzlement against JAPDEVA’s Executive President Anne McKinley and other top officials at the agency.
The deal negotiated puts striking workers from the SINTRAJAP union back on the job Thursday morning to avoid sanctions, including docked wages, for participation in the labor action, but does not resolve the dispute.
As the strike in Costa Rica's Caribbean port city of Limón stretched into its tenth day, importers and exporters are struggling to meet their obligations to customers, according to several sources consulted by The Tico Times. Despite the port remaining open, the ongoing strike has created an administrative backlog that has delayed some shipments by as much as 72 hours.
Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa announced that police had removed striking stevedores from the docks in Moín and Limón, which handle 80 percent of Costa Rica’s international trade, Wednesday evening with the support of Casa Presidencial.
Costa Rica’s proposed $1 billion Moín port expansion is facing another potential setback as the Atlantic Port Authority’s union began a strike in Limón on Wednesday. SINTRAJAP leaders and some lawmakers believe a provision of the concession grants AMP Terminals a monopoly on handling containers, and therefore threatens stevedores’ jobs.
Thousands of public employees on Tuesday marched eight blocks through the capital to protest a 0.43 percent wage hike approved by the government this month.
Public employees working in government, education, health, police and coastal docks are spending this month planning the country's first major strike of the year.
