September 4th, Banana Link

For over a decade, successive Costa Rican governments have been under pressure from repeated recommendations by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to tighten up legislation to ensure that the freedom for workers to join or form trade unions is respected in practice. Earlier this year a package of measures promised by President Arias to the ILO over two years ago was finally presented to the Costa Rican Parliament. The "Trade Union Freedoms" Bill (Draft Law 13475) is scheduled to be voted one way or the other this month. The measures in the draft Bill include:
- easier registration requirements for new trade unions;
- protection against unfair dismissal for private sector workers who join a trade union;
- a reduction in the percentage of (permanent) workers who are union members in any one workplace required to trigger collective bargaining from 50%+1 to 30%.

However, private sector employers and members of Parliament for the government party appear determined to scupper the Bill. Outside the Parliament, trade unions have denounced "dirty tactics" in the country's banana and pineapple plantations. "Company staff are telling workers that there is legislation going through Parliament that will force them to join a trade union, that the unions will misuse workers' affiliation fees and that the new law will lead to the companies closing down and workers losing their jobs", explained a group of workers to the local press last month. Workers are then asked to sign a petition denouncing the draft legislation.

Sources: Banana Link and Diario Extra, 17/08.