Costa Rica union begins open-ended strike, closes ports

San Jose, Oct 22 (EFE). —  The union encompassing Caribbean port workers in Costa Rica on Wednesday launched an openended strike at two staterun ports, the pair of which move 85 percent of the country’s international trade, to protest the construction of a private maritime terminal.

The Sintrajap union announced the work stoppage at the Moin and Limon ports without specifying how many workers would be involved in the measure.

Sintrajap opposes the building of a $1 billion private “megaport” the concession for which the government awarded years ago to Dutch firm APM Terminals but on which construction still has not begun.

The union is demanding modifications in the contract, arguing that it provides APM with an “illegal monopoly” in container loading and unloading operations, something that would greatly affect union workers at the two ports.

“We’re not going into a conflict for better salaries or labor benefits, we’re going to fight to demand that there be competitiveness in port activities (and) for an illegal monopoly to be prevented,” said the union in a communique.

Sintrajap says that the negotiations it was undertaking with the government “failed” and that it sees no “political will ... (to) correct the monopolistic clause” on the part of San Jose.

Currently, there are two vessels docked at Puerto Moin and another one at Puerto Limon.

Costa Rican courts already have rejected several legal measures filed against the project and the only thing standing in the way of construction at present is the endorsement of the environmental impact study carried out by the Setena, the national environmental secretariat.

The union had said on Monday that it would strike to halt the project but it had not specified a date on which the measure would commence.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis on Tuesday said that the strike was unjustified and that he would not allow the country’s port services to be paralyzed.