اخبار
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Call for solidarity for Costa Rican dockers
04/02/2010
The ITF has urged affiliates to back dockers in Costa Rica who are facing anti-union repression at the hands of the government.
The ITF this week called on unions to protest against attempts by the Costa Rican government to quash the ITF-affiliated Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA (SINTRAJAP) and to privatise the state-owned port company JAPDEVA.
The government has employed a series of anti-union tactics designed to undermine the union during its 10-year bid to sell off the port of Limon. The union has so far managed to stave off privatisation and has developed an economic plan for the successful operation of the port as a publicly owned body. JAPDEVA was created to operate the port and use the money raised to promote development in Limon, one of Costa Rica’s poorest provinces.
In a last-ditch attempt to force through privatisation ahead of a general election, JAPVEDA has stepped up its union-busting tactics. These have included, during a “workers’ assembly” called by the company itself, attempts to impose an employer-run union. It has also been reported that workers have been offered cash payments to leave SINTRAJAP. Such offers could constitute a breach of national law and International Labour Organization conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining to which Costa Rica is a signatory.
ITF dockers’ section secretary Frank Leys commented: “We are calling on our affiliated unions and the international trade union movement to protest against the Costa Rican government’s undemocratic and potentially illegal plans to break the will of the SINTRAJAP union.”
ITF Americas regional secretary Antonio Fritz added: “Now the president has become increasingly desperate to undermine the union and privatise the port. That apparent determination seems to be reflected in what appears to be increasingly unconstitutional behaviour by the Costa Rican government and JAPVEDA.”
For information about sending a protest letter visit: http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/sintrajap.cfm
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