While the "owners" of the "business" of the State of Costa Rica -public employees - are raising their salaries by at least 4%, their "workers" - the private sector - , were given an increase of 2.35%.
EDITORIAL
As if they lived on Mars, two senior level officials in the government of Costa Rica, the Deputy Ministers of Finance and Labor stated that there will not be any problem with adjusting the salaries of state officials at a percentage that will offset previous inflation - 4.14% - arguing that the increased expense "falls within the available budget."
The Environmental Technical Secretariat of Costa Rica has suspended works in the pit which was to provide material to APM Terminals to build the port in Moin.
On top of the long list of obstacles that have impeded the progress of the construction of the new port in the Costa Rican Caribbean, the Technical Environmental Secretariat has stopped work on the the pit in La Asuncion, in response to a request by Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) for a revocation, claiming that "... the expropriations in the Banana River, located near the Cerro La Asunción, threaten the water supply in the province of Limón."
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.
Feeling threatened by the announcements of rationalization of state payroll as a first step towards solving the fiscal crisis, unions are once again pushing the tax on financial transactions.
EDITORIAL
The Costa Rican banking sector reacted to the possibility that the new Solis administration is reanimating the discussion on the implementation of the Tobin Tax, also known as the "Robin Hood tax" alluding to it taking away from those who have more in order to give it those with less.
In Costa Rica extreme environmentalism and the interests of the port unions are crippling a proposed $1 billion logistics development which is vital for the country
For the second time this year an appeal has been filed to obstruct the development of the port terminal by APM Terminals. Now it is the Constitutional Court that is hosting yet another appeal against the construction of the access road to the project.
In Costa Rica a judicial ruling has lifted a restriction in order to advance the construction of port for container ships in Moin.
In February the Japdeva Workers Union (Sintrajap) filed a motion to prevent two km of road being built for the construction of the New Moin Mega Container port and in response to an appeal, the Administrative Court imposed as a precautionary measure suspension of the work.
"... The National Association of Public Employees has access to a lot of tax information" - Albino Vargas, president of the Union.
Editorial
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist...When they came for me, there was no one left to speak for me."
An article in Elfinancierocr.com quotes Albino Vargas, secretary general of the National Public Employees Association (ANEP), which warned last Wednesday on Twitter about a Tax audit being performed on one of the two candidates vying for the presidency of Costa Rica on April 6th.
Only cargo destined for El Salvador should be charged with the $18 fee for the inspection with scanner, request freight carriers.
According to the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), this fee violates conventions and trade agreements in the region. In addition, they believe that the inspections and the time it takes to submit all shipments to the procedures are excessive.
The regional union of freight carriers is protesting about the fee for inspections using scanners at Salvadoran customs offices and the delays it has generated.
The Central American Freight Council declared a protest strike at Salvadoran borders over the payment of $18 for the inspection of cargo travelling overland.
Port workers hindered the use of private forklifts for unloading ships carrying fruit.
The measures taken by the Union of Workers of Japdeva (Sintrajap) could cause a boat being delayed by up to 32 hours in the port and overall operations to fall behind.
Nacion.com reports that "workers are complaining that there are more than 35 damaged trucks which are have been abandoned for over a year and there is no investment in new equipment." Currently there are only 15 pieces of equipment used for loading and unloading goods.
Port sector entrepreneurs are advocating legal mechanisms to prevent the stoppage of work at ports due to workers strikes.
The latest labor dispute which took place in Manzanillo port in Panama and its impact on the logistics industry is not far removed from other countries in the region.
Maritime industry representatives agree on the serious risk posed by strikes to the development of Panama as a logistics center.
Regional unions are threatening a general strike in the Salvadoran border to protest at the rate of $18 per inspection at customs offices in that country.
S21.com.gt reports: "The new provision of the General Customs of El Salvador will take effect on 6 January, in light of this, carriers of the remaining five countries in the region have announced a general strike on the Salvadoran border if this legislation goes ahead. "
Logistics is the system of veins and arteries through which global trade flows, and the ports are the heart of this system; a strike has the same impact as a heart attack in a human being.
An article in Prensa.com states: "What should be ceaseless port activity has become bogged down. Nothing is worse for a production system, and is even more worrying when it affects to the logistics industry.
The business sector in Costa Rica has withdrawn its support for the draft reform of the Labor Code, stating that it does not promote social peace in the country.
The employers, represented by the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of Private Enterprises (Uccaep), explained that the text of the bill contains "the elimination of all regulation of strikes in essential services such as security, health and energy.
Eleven business chambers are insisting that the reforms to the Labor Code incite illegal strikes.
Nacion.com reports: "The amendments were approved unanimously by the Legal Affairs Committee of Congress, on August 1st, and have already been presented to the plenary."
"The chambers are opposed to the reforms regarding strikes, unions and syndicated workers, which are strengthened at the expense of standing committees (promoted by solidarism), something that encourages protests".