The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José determined the strike called by the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP) in the Municipality of Santa Ana is illegal.
According to Judge Ileana Castillo Porras, the union does not have a mechanism to demonstrate the required percentage of support from affiliates.
According to the judge’s file, during the first day of the strike -September 10th- 14 garbage collectors joined the strike and didn’t go to work. On September 11th, there were 11 employees who stayed in their offices without doing any work.
In addition, ANEP must pay the State the one million colones for the payment of personal and procedural costs.
The Municipality of Santa Ana is the fourth institution in which the strike was declared illegal. The judges took the same stance for the strikes in the National Production Council (CNP), the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (MIVAH) and the National Emergency Commission (CNE).
Since September 10th, 32 public institutions requested the Labor Courts to declare these movements as illegal. There are still 29 to be resolved. These declarations, if they are final, would allow the institutions to sanction those officials who skipped work and joined the strike.