The prediction that 5,000 Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) employees would march down San José's Paseo Colón yesterday proved a drastic exaggeration as the ICE unions' strike fizzled into threats and a mixed gathering of several hundred protestors outside the Legislative Assembly.
The unions were protesting laws the Legislative Assembly is considering that would put Costa Rica in compliance with the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), which Costa Ricans approved in a referendum last month.
Last week, after calling for a “general strike” at a press conference, Fabio Chaves, president of the Association of Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Workers Union (ASDEICE), called for 5,000 ICE workers to participate in the walkout.
But only about 400 protestors showed up at the ICE building on the north side of La Sabana Park in western San José. At the gathering, the unions decided to limit the strike to a single day, while threatening a general strike should the CAFTA implementation laws – and particularly the telecom laws – be approved.
On the other side of town near the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Pedro, a group of students blocked streets, burned tires and waved signs expressing their opposition to CAFTA.
No services were interrupted during the one-day walkout, and the ICE management was not impressed. ICE spokesman Elbert Durán called the strike a “pathetic act of desperation” and said the workers who walked out would not get paid for that day |
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