Unions around the globe will stand with Costa Rica’s dockworkers, says ITF

Unions around the globe will stand with Costa Rica’s dockworkers, says ITF
http://insidecostarica.com/2014/10/28/unions-around-globe-will-stand-cos...

October 28th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), an international federation of some 700 unions representing more than 4.5 million transport workers from 150 countries, said it and its member unions will fight for the rights of Limon’s striking dockworkers in a communiqué sent to Inside Costa Ricaon Tuesday.

ITF said it strongly condemns “the actions of the Costa Rican government after hundreds of police officers stormed Puerto Limon’s Moin and Limon terminals last Thursday, October 23rd, violently attacking workers and arresting 68 men and women who were peacefully striking.”

“The workers were detained, then the port re-opened Friday with strikebreakers, some of them from nearby countries, replacing the union members,” the statement continues.

ITF described what it called “aggressive police beatings” as a “shocking development in a country well known for its peacefulness and democracy.”

“This is another example of profit coming first, with governments putting effort – and violent effort – into attacking the public sector,” said ITF’s president and chair of its Dockers’ Section, Paddy Crumlin. “Dockers’ unions worldwide will fight this.”

Sintrajap, the union that represents the workers of the state-owned port operator, Japdeva, declared the strike after negotiations to alter the concession granted to Dutch firm, APM Terminals to build and operate the new Moin Container Terminal, broke down.

Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court dismissed an appeal this month in which the union had claimed that a particular clause in the concession would create an “illegal monopoly” giving APM Terminals the exclusive right to load and unload containers arriving in Limon. The appeal was the last legal alternative available to Sintrajap in its attempts to stop the project.

ITF, supporting Sintrajap’s view, says that the concession creates a “huge competitive advantage” for APM, which “casts a shadow over the future of the state-owned port company Japdeva in the Moin and Limon terminals.”

In the communiqué, ITF said that Japdeva has an “explicit role” as a “regional economic development engine, helping to fund education and health services,” adding that both unions and the local population are extremely concerned about the potential loss of Japdeva’s “much-needed public sector income” and what they describe as potential environmental impacts of the new terminal.

“The new facility could compromise the nesting grounds of leatherback turtles and endanger manatees, dolphins, and coral reefs,” ITF said.

ITF said it is stepping up its pressure, writing to port unions globally asking them for their support.

“All the union members want is proper observance of the law, security for existing jobs, and protection of their community. Instead, the government authorized disproportionate force and hired strikebreakers. Of course the international union community is shocked,” said ITF Regional Secretary Antonio Rodriguez Fritz. “We will fight this and we will win.”

APM Terminals obtained the concession to build and operate the port in 2011 and was due to begin construction last year, but the project has faced several legal challenges.

The initial concession is for 33 years, with an initial investment of at least $1 billion and the creation of some 400 jobs.

The new facilities would be able to accommodate modern “Panamax” class container vessels of up to 13,500 containers, some five times larger than those that can be serviced in the country presently.

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