After the Salvadoran Supreme Court suspended the Fonat law, carriers decided to resume their work.
"There is no longer a reason for the strike," said Raul Alfaro, president of the Association of International Cargo Transporters (ASTIC).
"The Chamber accepted a constitutional challenge submitted by the ASTIC against the collection of accident insurance, namely the Fund for Victims of Traffic Accidents (Fonat), from which the Legislature excluded foreign transporters, but not Salvadorans," noted an article in Elsalvador.com.
The Central Council of Transport has announced a three-day strike in protest against El Salvador levying a tax on freight carriers of between $35 and $250.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "the measure will affect all regional trade, because the rest of the international freight carriers from the isthmus will join the strike 'in solidarity' in order to send a message to other governments who have created new taxes on trade merchandise ... ".
The main freight union of Central America has issued an ultimatum to the government of El Salvador to modify the collection of the new tax levied at customs offices.
Representatives of these unions which integrate the Central American Council of Transport have given a deadline of May 31 to amend this charge, otherwise on that date, if Congress has not amended the law which created the new tax, the truckers will go on strike for an undefined period causing heavy losses to Central American companies.
The labor union of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has convened a national strike in protest against recent actions by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SUTEL).
Jorge Arguedas, president of Annttec, one of the state unions, explained that the Superintendent has taken specific actions against the ICE, such as the recent requirement of the return of frequencies as a condition for authorizing the acquisition of Cablevision.
The obligation to take out insurance with Mexican companies has annoyed freight carriers who have announced that they will not travel through Aztec territory.
Starting on September 3, the deadline for the enforcement of the provision, Guatemalans carriers have said they will longer go into Mexico.
Two years ago Mexican and Guatemalan government authorities signed an agreement under which Guatemalan freight carriers have to meet a series of standards, among which is taking out transport insurance, with Mexican companies, equivalent to 19,000 salaries in the Federal District of Mexico.
The strike ended when the government agreed with the unions to finance finance the modernization of the docks.
Financing of $70 million is needed, of which the state will put up $40 million and Japdeva administrators the remaining $30 million.
With that amount, the docks of Limon and Moin would eventually be modernized and become competitive.
An article in Nacion.com reports that the rates charged on those ports will have to rise, quoting Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Minister of the Presidency who said: "Of course this will involve an adjustment in rates so that debt can be properly paid".
With the uncertainty created over the strike at the ports of Limon and Moin, exporters are starting to think about sending out their products via Panama or Caldera on the Pacific.
In light of the shutdown of the ports where 80% of national exports exit the country, the export sector is analyzing alternatives.
Abel Chavez, president of the National Chamber of Producers and Exporters of Pineapples (Canapep) noted that among the possibilities being studied are transporting products via the port of Caldera, Costa Rica's Pacific port or via Panamanian ones. These options represent a major increase in costs for the sector.
Costa Rican Industrialists are asking for the ports of Limon and Moin to be removed from the hands of JAPDEVA, the current administrator.
A statement from the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC) reads:
- Industrial sector was exposed to millions in losses to the two-day port strike
- 80% of the country’s imports and exports are handled by the port of Moin
Police entered the ports of Moin and Limon, which had been paralyzed for two days because of a strike, reactivating the loading and unloading of goods.
On Tuesday 12 June, the Trade Unions of Japdeva began a strike at the ports of Limon and Moin, protesting against an award made by the Costa Rican government for the construction and operation of a dock for container ships to the Dutch firm APM Terminals.
The Workers Union comprising of Japdeva, Portuarios and Afines has gone on strike because of opposition to the construction of a private container terminal.
Staff members of the Union of Japdeva Port Associations (Sintrajap) are protesting against the concession to the Dutch firm APM Terminals to build a container terminal in Moin, an investment project costing $22 million approved by the Controller General of the Republic.
As unemployment rises and poverty increases, the Costa Rican Minister of Finance has declared "urgent" the payment of bonuses to central government officials.
EDITORIAL OPINION
If you are an official in the central government of Costa Rica, your bonus this December will average 15.6% higher than 2010. But if you are poor, and most likely also unemployed, the only thing that will increase is the number of your neighbors in the same situation.
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).
In what seems a never ending story, the government of Costa Rica has opened the possibility for new dialogue with unions from the ports of Limon and Moin.
The Costa Rican government announced that in discussions with port unions (SINTRAJAP) a two month timeframe to reach an agreement was set.
Japdeva opposes giving in concession the privatization, modernization and operation of the ports of Moin and Limon.
Port activity will once again come to a standstill on 11 days of the year due to the abolition of the reforms agreed with workers.
Costa Rica's constitutional court has ruled illegitimate a reform by the country's Atlantic Port Development Management Board (JAPDEVA in Spanish) that specified the port union's board of directors. The port union (abbreviated SINTRAJAP in Spanish) had negotiated the reform with the government.
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".