[CTC] Dems tout "Make it in America" campaign agenda

[Citizens Trade Campaign]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2010
CONTACT: Jennifer Sargent, 503-703-2933

U.S. Longshore Union Files CAFTA Complaint Against the Costa Rican
Government for Systematic Labor Rights Violations

 

Costa Rica’s public employees and dockworkers unions join ILWU complaint;
American longshoremen share many employers in common with Costa Rican
longshoremen

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The union that represents all 25,000 West Coast
longshore workers has filed a formal complaint against the Government of
Costa Rica under the Dominican Republic - Central American Free Trade
Agreement for “serious and repeated failures by the government of Costa Rica
to effectively enforce its own labor laws.”

 

The 18-page complaint was filed July 20, 2010 with the Department of Labor’s
Office of labor and Trade Affairs (OTLA) on behalf of three unions: the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), and the Costa Rican
unions Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA (SINTRAJAP) and Asociación
Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (ANEP).

 

Among other violations, the unions charge that, “The conduct of the Costa
Rican government includes a government-run media campaign to discredit the
union, removal of the democratically elected leadership of the union and
imposition of a government-backed employer-run board of union directors,
freezing of the union’s bank accounts, militarization of the ports in the
run up to a complete takeover of the union, directing the police to raid and
occupy the union’s business office, and entering into an unconstitutional
multi-million dollar deal with the government-backed employer-run board of
union directors to entice workers to leave the union and accept
privatization of the ports.” (Source: P. 2 of complaint.)

 

“Americans want to believe Costa Rica is a paradise,” said ILWU
International President Robert McEllrath. “But Costa Rica’s turning into a
country in which police smash in doors and windows where workers have
conducted peaceful meetings, where the government spreads propaganda to
interfere in workers’ elections, and where working families’ well being is
placed a distant second to the profits of multinational corporations.”

 

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Coast Longshore Division
has been assisting the SINTRAJAP longshore union since shortly after the
government replaced the democratically elected leadership of SINTRAJAP in
the middle of a two-year term and replaced it with a government-backed group
in February. The Coast Longshore Division has placed full-page
advertisements in Costa Rican newspapers to inform Costa Ricans of the
government’s abuses, and has sent a delegation to Limón to interview
workers, meet with public officials, and document the abuses. American
longshoremen work for many of the same major shipping carriers and
stevedoring companies as the ones operating in Costa Rica.

 

“Dockworkers at Costa Rica’s Pacific port of Caldera were subjected to a
similar privatization scheme in 2006 and are suffering mightily for it,”
said McEllrath. “Ninety percent of longshore workers lost their jobs, those
remaining saw their pay cut by two-thirds, and precarious working conditions
have led to 46 waterfront deaths. Costa Rica must be held accountable for
its ongoing and deliberate abuse against workers and their union rights.”

 

About the ILWU: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Coast
Longshore Division represents 25,000 longshore men and women in California,
Oregon and Washington. http://www.ilwu.org

 

About SINTRAJAP: The Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA (in English, the
Union of Workers of JAPDEVA) represents 1,400 longshore workers and port
employees in Costa Rica who work for the major fruit exporting ports of
Limón and Moín on the Caribbean coast. http://anep.or.cr/

 

About ANEP: The Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (in
English, the National Association of Public and Private Employees)
represents 15,000 Costa Rican workers in all sectors and is the Costa Rican
equivalent of the AFL-CIO in the United States. http://www.sintrajap.com/

 

-30-

 

---------------------

Jennifer Sargent

Coast Communications Director

ILWU Coast Longshore Division

503-703-2933

http://www.ilwu.org

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com

 

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