QCOSTARICA – Is it just good public relations or for serious, the call by RECOPE president, Sara Salazar, on Tuesday for a stop to the bidding for a ¢6.8 million colones Christmas party for employees of the state refinery that refines nothing.
Salazar told La Republica that since October 20 she opposed that the Gerencia de Administración y Finanzas (Administration and Finance of the institution) planned bid for a Christmas bash, at the cost of consumers paying for it by way of the gas pumps and made position officially known to all the managers of the company.
Salazar also said that she is in the process of renegotiating the collective agreement with the unions, looking to remove the year-end benefit.
On October 30, RECOPE put out a public bid for the hiring of catering services and entertainment for the year-end party for 300 people.
In response, the Energy division of the government regulating authority, the ARESEP, asked RECOPE managers for an explanation of the origin of the funds that will finance the party.
Carolina Mora, spokesperson for the ARESEP, said that “regulatory cuts” enacted exclude from consumer prices, among others, expenses not associated with the cost of the public service or product.
In the last few days, the social media has been abuzz with denunciations against RECOPE, the most critical is the blog El Infierno en Costa Rica, who wrote “This takes a lot of nerve, if they want to party, the pay for it. This is the kind of privilege that the government defends and asks to be tacked on fuel prices that we all pay. Let them go to hell!”
Source: LaRepublica.net, Crhoy.com, Facebook
I note from a post on FB today, the President has now signed a Directive addressed to all public institutions, prohibiting the use of public funds to finance employee Christmas parties and the like. This was obviously done in response to the out-pouring of complaints about this practice on various social networking sites such as Q.
Well crap, why not just have a national Christmas Party for everyone that is funded by the failing government? I feel sure that there are a lot of people that would enjoy having a good meal, instead of the rice and beans, as well as a ride on a mechanical bull to celebrate having to pay more at the pump!
The main issue I see here is … the party is for 300 people, which works out to about $45 a person… Have a party fine but be reasonable.