 |
(Free Labour World, february 1997)
Democratic, stable, respectful of rights, etc. are generally the
words used, wrongly, to describe Costa Rica. The ICFTU, which
is to launch a Costa Rica campaign, suggests they should be replaced
by discrimination against trade unionists, black lists, solidarismo
and collusion against the workers.
Last year. the ORIT supported an organising campaign by the private sector union ANTEP. The project resulted in the organising of 1,782 workers. but it also attracted the attention of the employers who unleashed an unprecedented wave of repression. Within a few months, the union only had 151 members left.
The CTRN also tried to organise the transport sector by Ibunding the Sicotra union A few weeks later, all the members of the executive were dismissed and their names put on black lists. Eight months after the events they had still not found work.
The Fertica company is a case in point. In September 1995, the management of the company. which specialises in the production of fertilisers, dismissed 265 workers, all members of the local union. Two months later, 100 of them agreed to be rehired on the employer's terms: abolition of the trade union, cancellation of the collective agreement, loss of acquired rights and the creation of a "solidarismo" union. 150 workers stood their ground. Over one year later they have still not been reinstated and face another 6 month wait before the court announced its verdict. In the meantime, no other employer will hire them.
Examples such as this are legion:
"Let us put things straight: Costa Rica is not the social paradise the employers and government would have us believe. The freedom of association does not exist there. Costa Rica does not respect the rights it pretends to uphold to pass itself off as a haven of democracy. In reality, a worker in a private enterprise who tries to join a trade union is systematically dismissed, and in the worst of cases put on a black list which makes sure they have no hope of finding work in the private sector" explains Ivan Gonzalez, director of the ICFTU/ORIT's human rights department.
As well as violating the citizen's fundamental right to work and to join a trade union, this widespread practice makes the organising of the private sector workforce extremely difficult. Over the last five years, the trade unions have only managed to negotiate seven new collective agreements.
In the public sector, the right to form a trade union is recognised in theory, but the courts deny civil servants the right to collective procedures (conciliation, arbitration, and the direct settlement of disputes) and more than 54 articles of the labour code have been suspended.
Civil servants have also been the targets of spending cuts, as the government decided to reduce its wage bill. "Reduce and modernise" was the motto.
Employment ministry figures show that in 1990 the 13 public service unions had 13,669 members, while by 1996 they only had 5,926, a fall of 56%.
Staff reductions in the civil service seem to have been aimed particularly at trade unionists. Last year, says Walter Quesada, a member of the public service union ANEP, of the eleven civil servants dismissed from the social planning department, nine were trade union members. Walter was one of them.
The government and employers promotion of the pro-employer solidarismo
unions has also played a significant role in the deterioration
of labour relations. "Solidarismo, which has now spread to
the whole of Central America, began in Costa Rica where it has
almost succeeded in destroying existing trade unions" bitterly
notes the general secretary of the Rerun Novarum trade union confederation
Joaquim Melendez.
A LONG HISTORY OF ANTI-UNION REPRESSION
The violation of trade union rights in Costa Rica is an old story. Since 1967, more than 40 complaints have been lodged with the ILO's Committee on the Freedom of Association for the violation of ILO standards 87 and 98. Two ILO direct contact missions that went to San José found the complaints presented by the unions to be perfectly founded. "But the cases that reach the ILO are only the tip of the iceberg" stresses Ivan Gonzalez.
The right to strike is virtually denied because the government has designated 65'% of manufacturing and service activities as public services which cannot go on strike. About 65% of manufacturing activity in Costa Rica is included in this category. This constitutes a blatant violation ol the ILO convention on the right to strike, with the government making abusive use of the legal text that foresees the essential services where the right to strike is restricted.
Over the last two years, of the 398 strikes that have taken place, only two were authorised The others were declared illegal.
Yet Costa Rica has a good image in the eyes of the international community. "When the unions present a complaint to international organisations, no-one takes any notice" deplores Joaquim Melendez "because Costa Rica has a reputation as a peaceful country that respects human rights".
Thc CTRN is doing all it can to change the situation. In recent years trade union leaders have met successive Presidents of the Republic, leaders of political parties, heads of parliamentary groups, representatives of the Church, the Ombudsman, the human rights commission, etc. to press for the respect of workers' rights.
At the international level, supported by the ORIT and the ICFTU,
the CTRN is preparing a plan of action and another complaint to
the ILO. The case of Costa Rica is due to be dealt with by the
ILO's committee on the application of standards next June. In
the meantime, an ICFTU mission will go to Costa Rica to look at
the situation regarding trade union rights violations and to meet
government representatives to discuss the matter.
|