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Business
Chambers celebrate the approval on the first vote of
the bill to regulate strikes
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The National Chamber of Tourism, known as Canatur, announced on Wednesday the support for deputies who approved, in the first debate, bill 21.049, which seeks to regulate strikes. According to Canatur, creating a law regulating strikes is an urgent matter. The representatives of the Chamber appeared at hearings convened by the Special Commission on Strikes of the Legislative Assembly. In these hearings, the Chamber presented the proposal to include in the bill, issues such as adding in the list of essential public services, airports, immigration services, and the reduction of wages to workers who go on strike. "Our interest is not to oppose the right of workers to strike, what we seek is legal clarity to avoid abuses and damage to the rights of the majority of citizens and tourists who suffered the consequences of the last protests," said Saray Valverde, president of Canatur. According to the Chamber, tourism was one of the sectors that reported million-dollar losses due to service cancellations, low sales, and itinerary changes, as well as direct effects on tourists who were trapped on roads due to blockages. Additionally, the Costa Rican North American Chamber of Commerce, known as AmCham, also announced support for the deputies for the approval in the first round of voting of the bill. According to AmCham, this bill is vital for both, the productive sector and society in general, as this bill fills an empty void in current legislation by allowing abuses of the right to protest against the majority of the people. "We celebrate the approval of this bill in the congress, and we hope that the deputies will soon confirm their vote in a second round," said Elías Soley, president of AmCham. "It is the only way to respect the productive sector and protect most of the Costa Ricans who suffer the consequences when those irresponsible people who abuse the right to protest." According to AmCham, union leaders have tried to confuse and deceive people by telling them that the bill to regulate strikes was made to ban strikes, which is false. Related to the previous strike by Social Security Union members in August, AmCham announced the rejection of the content of the agreement, signed between Social Security authorities and Union leaders known as Undeca.  According to AmCham, the agreement is contrary to the commitment that President Carlos Alvarado asked of all Costa Ricans. The chamber considers the agreement to be a signal for other public institutions to seek to be excluded from the tax law, especially as it pertains to the salaries of public employees. "With these actions, we cannot ask citizens to have confidence in their authorities," said Soley from AmCham. "The government must be consistent with its actions, respect the sectors and responsible citizens that accept tax reform, as well as the employees and businessmen who contribute to Social Security every month. " According to the chamber, the agreement signed to stop the strike sends a bad signal to the risk rating agencies, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, known as OECD, and multilateral organizations. AmCham calls on the government to require the authorities of public institutions to comply with the provisions of the Law on Strengthening Public Finance. On August 14th, Social Security reported that during the 8-day union strike, 223,762 medical appointments were scheduled, of which only 140,890 were completed. Concerning to surgeries, 3,341 procedures were scheduled, of which only 1,677 were performed. In April, the Court gave Social Security 6-months to reduce patient waiting lists in hospitals. The Constitutional Court Chamber ordered Social Security to design, in a maximum of six months, an integrated management system to reduce the "disproportionate and unreasonable deadlines that the patient should expect to receive care in hospitals," said the ruling. The problem is that it represents a systematic and repeated violation of the right to health, said the Court. --------------------- Have protests by unions affected you in some way? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com |
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