QCOSTARICA – Be prepared for a day of civil unrest in Costa Rica, as teachers and hospital workers lead a day of protests across the country.
Union workers of the Unión Nacional de Empleados de la Caja y de la Seguridad Social (Undeca), the Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE) and the Asociación de Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE) will all be on strike today, Friday, October 16.
Expected to join the protests are taxi drivers of the Cámara de Servicio Especial Estable de Taxi (Seetaxi).
Although union leaders say there will be no blockades, traffic conditions in areas like downtown San Jose and around the airport may be affected.
Unions: can´t live with them,can´t live without them. I am close to some teachers and I know how much their Union has accomplished for them, maybe too much. Their pension is the only salary that doe snot get taxed, they retired before other union workers do. Overall, I dislike unions as much as I dislike slavers.
The Labour Laws in Costa Rica are very strong and favour the workers. In my opinion, unions are no longer required to protect the rights of workers. Unions far exceed any usefulness when they exercise political power and influence which was never given to them by the Costa Rica Electorate, thereby skewing the democratic process, as is the case with the Public Sector Unions protesting today..
I can speak with authority on this issue. I have years of personal experience re. unions protecting screwed workers only to later being the SCREWER. From my chair, doctors who see their priorities as protecting their paycheck rather than protecting their patients—-& teachers who value thier pay/free time over educating children have no right to their professions. For this attitude, Costa Rican employers are running for the hills & my neighbors are hanging themselves because they cannot make a living (& are not educated enough to properly do so).
The Private Sector and ordinary Costa Rican citizens not employed in the Public Sector, need to stand-up and be heard on these issues as well. It is time to end the bilking of this segment of the population by the Public Sector. The Public Sector has been publicly exposed for having their ” collective hands caught in the cookie jar”, for their outrageous wages and benefits packages.