[Note: SINTRAJAP union leaders have informed us that their peaceful protest today has completely shut down the Ports of Limon and Moin.]
The Union of Allied Port Workers (Sintrajap) is calling for a general strike this week that could cripple the country’s Atlantic ports, spurred on with support from the union that represents workers of the Board of Atlantic Coast Port Administration and Economic Development (Japdeva).
The unions are upset following meetings with the Solís government which failed to bring about changes in the concession for the planned Moín Container Terminal granted to the Dutch company, APM Terminals, which the unions claim will create an illegal monopoly in favor of the firm. Instead, the meetings resulted in President Luis Guillermo Solís publicly reiterating his support of the project.
Solís’ statements of support for the project seem to have been the final straw for the unions, who on Monday announced the call for a general strike.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court dismissed earlier this month an appeal filed by Sintrajap, which claimed that the concession as written would create an illegal monopoly. The appeal was the last legal alternative available to Sintrajap in its attempts to stop the project.
Sintrajap is also calling for the support of other labor unions throughout the country, in the form of protests in the streets of San Jose and Limon.