Labor & Employment Law

Costa Rica?s High Court Restores Longshore Union Leaders

By James Parks

Costa Rican police took over the SINTRAJAP union hall in May.

Longshore workers in the United States and Costa Rica are celebrating a ruling by Costa Rica?s high court that restored the democratically elected leaders of the SINTRAJAP longshore union who had been ousted in a government-backed illegal union election. 

 The ouster prompted the International Longshore and Warehouse Union?s (ILWU?s) Coast Longshore Division to charge Costa Rica with ?serious and repeated failures by the government of Costa Rica to effectively enforce its own labor laws? in an 18-page complaint with the Department of Labor?s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA).

?The return of the legitimate union leadership is a victory for hard-working people everywhere, who count on having the democratic right to join a union and improve their standard of living, ensure their safety and strengthen their communities,? says ILWU  President Robert McEllrath.

It?s an important step forward in the never-ending battle to protect workers from forces that would like to return to the days before union rights, when poverty and unsafe working conditions in the workplace were considered an acceptable cost of doing business.

Despite the court?s order, it remains unclear whether or not the government intends to respect the ruling. McEllrath says:

The road ahead will likely be long but we are prepared to support the legitimate SINTRAJAP board in their fight to keep their docks safe and productive, and to ensure their communities keep the good, union jobs that sustain them.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 27, 2010 (boomark / email).