Although in court the strike was declared illegal, the government compromised on not discounting from wages for the days not worked by the strikers in return for lifting of the strike.
After managing to avoid wage deductions for having been absent from their duties for 15 days, the Workers Syndicate of Japdeva (Sintrajap) agreed to suspend the strike and resume duties as normal today at the ports of Limon and Moin.
Despite the new president having reaffirmed his government's commitment to the project at Moin to be run by the Dutch company APM Terminal, his own lawmakers are supporting the formation of a committee to re-analyze the concession contract.
While President Luis Guillermo Solis is touring the United States looking for investors and providing legal certainty to foreign companies, inside the country space is still being given to obviously bias obstructionism on the part of port official unions. Now it is the sphere of the Legislature where a petition will be filed in an attempt to halt the project.
In a speech given to business leaders the presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solis delivered a message of reassurance about economic development policies.
The presidential candidate for the Citizen Action Party met with a union of private companies in Costa Rica in order to send a message of peace and openness, should he obtain the votes needed in the April 6th election to assume the presidency.
Despite the promise brought by the development of several projects in the next five years, in Costa Rica the province of Limon is not prepared for the challenges of such investments.
Starting with education and training of the workforce that will be required by the construction and operation of mega projects like the Moin Container Terminal (TCM by its initials in Spanish), there are a number of issues where the poorest province of Costa Rica has major deficiencies, but until now only a few advances have been made in the task of solving them.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Construction says urgent investment in port infrastructure is needed and that it supports the new Container Terminal at Moin.
A statement from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) reads:
The Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) would like to draw attention to improvements that the country needs to make in port infrastructure, because the lack of investment that has been made is taking a toll on all Costa Ricans.
The government of Costa Rica has put on hold "indefinitely" the process for the concession of the ports of Limon and Moin.
Caught between the demands of port efficiency by the productive sectors and the real power of the union, the Chinchilla administration has back tracked on its intention to grant concessions to private companies for the modernization and operation of the ports of Limon and Moin, and now intends to invest about $70 million to make sure that this essential modernization takes place, while keeping both terminals under the management of the Port Management Board of the Atlantic (JAPDEVA).
Americas Gateway Development Corporation (Amega) will develop studies for a container terminal at Moin, Costa Rica.
Aubery de Young, CEO of the company, explained that the Government of Costa Rica completed the formalities required to initiate these studies, which include the selection of a government counterpart and an independent engineering firm who will serve as auditor.
The labor union of the Caribbean ports of Costa Rica re-elected directors which are radically opposed to concession the ports to private investors.
At the same time in which dredging has started in order to increase capacity of tankers docking at Moin -with an expansion of the oil terminal which will be tendered in March 2011 - the workers voted overwhelmingly to re-elect union leaders who oppose granting management of the ports to the private sector.
The National Concessions Council began the process of studying the financial proposal made by APM Terminals.
APM Terminals was the only company to bid for construction and operation of a container port in Moin.
"The National Concession Council has until December 23 to decide whether to accept the proposal and grant concession to the Danish company or declare the process void and prepare a new process," reports Elfinancierocr.com.
Tariffs in force since 2003 and salaries that absorb 80% of the budget have led to losses during 2010.
As of July 2010, losses had already reached $4 million.
Allan Hidalgo, president of Costa Rica's Atlantic Port Development Management Board (JAPDEVA in Spanish), believes that the problem lies in the way prices are calculated.
"In addition, these tariffs have not changed since 2003 with JAPDEVA and successive governments awaiting the pier concessions in order to increase revenue," reports Nacion.com.
The Supreme Court has annulled an agreement reached with port workers who endorsed the concession of the Limón and Moín port operations.
The ruling also orders the reinstatement of the previous union board of directors, who opposed the concession of port operations to private companies.
The article in Nacion.com indicates that last night the head of the Ministry for Transport and Public Works (MOPT) was, "still unclear what the issues were with the terms and conditions being drawn up by Costa Rica's Atlantic Port Development Management Board (JAPDEVA in Spanish) for the concession of the old piers".
Only one company, APM Terminals, has submitted a tender to build an operate the container port in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica's National Concessions Council has 45 days to evaluate the technical offer and if it meets the bid criteria required the next step is the economic offer evaluation with the contract due to be awarded by the end of the year.
The services requested in the tender comprise those of loading and unloading, handling, storage and container classification, as well as auxiliary services for ships docking at the so-called Atlantic Mega Transhipment Terminal (MTA in Spanish) such as bunkering, towing, piloting and mooring. This project will not carry out any loading or unloading of cargo.
An ongoing conflict over who controls the Port Workers Union would not affect the government’s initiative to privatize it.
The current board, lead by Douglas Brenes, is endorsed by the Labor Ministry.
“The competent authority in these matters is the Labor Ministry. Whatever it rules is valid. It is complicated to analyze if what it decides it wrong or right, because a small detail might change the entire situation.
An assembly of workers from JAPDEVA, the entity who administers ports in the Costa Rican atlantic coastline, voted in favor of conceding the ports to private operators.
Workers also voted to remove the directors of the worker's union, whom oppose private operation of the ports.
"If the meeting is not ruled invalid, a Mediating Group will choose spokespersons to negotiate with the government a $137 million indemnification payment for conceding the ports", reported Nacion.com.