[Lasnetmail] An invitation for LASNET to support Costa Rican unionistsbattling CAFTA

[LASNET]

An invitation for LASNET to support Costa Rican unionists battling CAFTALatin American Solidarity Network (LASNET)

Dear friends at LASNET

The people of Costa Rica are continuing to struggle valiantly against the implementation of CAFTA.

The battle now is over passage of legislation needed to carry out the privatisation schemes integral to the treaty.  Due to public pressure, only a few of the required 13 laws have been passed and the deadline for implementation, which has been postponed once already, will run out this fall, potentially unraveling CAFTA altogether.

Fearing the possibility of continued mass opposition to free trade and privatisation, the powers that be in Costa Rica have launched a wave of retaliation against the 
most militant sector of the Costa Rican union movement. This attack includes the discharge, or threatened discharge, from their public sector jobs, of eight union 
leaders in key institutions that are targeted for privatisation.  They have been on the frontline of the fight against neo-liberalism for years. 

Just recently we learnt that management's excuse for terminating Jose Luis Castillo, the Financial Secretary of the dockworker union, is a bogus claim that he suddenly does not meet the educational requirements for his job. This claim arose in the context of Castillo's participation in a series of strikes and work slow-downs against government plans to privatize port management.

Two article published in the Freedom Socialist newspaper late last year and earlier this year give excellent background to the magnificent resistance of the Costa Rican mass movement against CAFTA.

http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol28no5/28511CAFTA.html
http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol28no6/28611CAFTA.html

We cordially invite LASNET to participate in an important international solidarity campaign to defend these militant Costa Rican trade union leaders who are being persecuted for their leadership role in the movement.

Attached is a solidarity petition which Australian unionists and defenders of the right to protest are invited to sign and circulate. We will be most appreciative if LASNET will circulate this to its e-list and if LASNET activists will help gather signatures. Petitions need to be returned by 28 May and can be mailed to PO Box 266, West Brunswick, Vic 3055 or faxed for 03-9388-0062.

In solidarity

Alison Thorne
Melbourne Branch Organiser
Freedom Socialist Party 
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