The employees on strike working for the Atlantic Zone Development and Port Administration Group (JAPDEVA) has been deemed illegal, determined Judge Francisco Vargas Ramirez who considered that the services offered by JAPDEVA are essential and that the conciliation alternatives were not exhausted.

“Paralyzing the services offered by the Limon and Moin ports, implies the suspension of an essential service for the country, being that it paralyzes the load and unload of ships that contain a series of goods, among them food”, reads the sentence.

“The labor union did not meet or at least try to communicate with a representative of the State to try to reach an agreement or propose solutions to the national political conflict.”

At this point, 7 legal resolutions have been issued out of 32 requests presented by different public institutions, employees’ strikes at the Costa Rican Central Bank, the Social Protection Board, the National Emergency Commission, the Santa Ana Municipality, the Ministry of Housing, the National Production Council and now the Atlantic Zone Development and Port Administration Group, have all been declared illegal, the affected parties are granted 3 days to present an appeal and the judge then has 5 business days to dictate sentence in firm.

The ongoing strike began back in September 10; Government representatives and leaders of the labor unions are still participating in “preliminary dialogues” to try to reach a solution; meanwhile, many public schools remain closed, health centers are working with limited resources, and the tourism and exports sectors have been severely affected.