Published: 8 May 2010
Condemnation of police attacks on Costa Rica dockworkers
The Maritime Union has joined the ILWU and ITF affiliates in condemning attacks on the Costa Rica dock workers union JAPDEVA.
In a letter to union president comrade Francisco Jimenez Reyes, the national secretary and Chair of the ITF dockworkers section Paddy Crumlin expressed outrage on behalf of all dockworkers of the world at the state violence and repression employed against the union and members.
"We were most concerned to hear of the recent police attacks shootings, beatings and imprisonment of protestors upholding their democratic rights and demonstrating in support of Costa Rica dockworkers," Paddy Crumlin wrote.
"Your union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA (SINTRAJAP) and your members, have been illegally and unconstitutionally targeted by the country's authorities as the government sets out to destroy the union and privatize the ports.
"An attack on dockworkers in Costa Rica is an attack on the dockworkers of the world. We will stand by you in defence of workers rights and union rights."
The ILWU has run a concerted campaign in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Costa Rica, writing to US President Barrack Obama and urging Congress members to condemn the attacks on the docks.
On April 29,Costa Rica’s docks in Limón erupted in chaos involving police, union members and a reported 10,000 civilians, following a campaign by the Oscar Arias-led Costa Rican government to usurp the workers’ democratically elected leadership and eliminate the SINTRAJAP longshore union, the ILWU reports.
As a direct result of the ILWU lobbying 25 members of the US Congress sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “express great concern about the current labor right situation in Costa Rica” and to say that “Costa Rica needs to comply with its obligations to the US and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).”
