Limón dock workers voting
today for union directors


Members of the dock workers union in Limón have their general assembly today, and the big item is the election of a board of directors.

There are two competing factions. One group wishes to retain state control of the docks at Limón and Moín. The other wants union members to accept a payoff from the government and allow the docks to be let out in concession to private firms.

This has been a long-running dispute.  The union is the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica,

In late 2009 the government ordered the leaders of the Limón docks union to hold a general meeting and vote on the government's plan to award the port in a concession to a private operator.

The dock concession and the improvements expected to be brought by a concession holder are the keystone to a plan to develop the area around Limón Centro. So the government was thrilled that the pro-concession faction won the 2009 vote.

But a court reversed the voting and put the former leadership back in charge.  The vote today is basically between those two factions.  Under the plan formulated by the Óscar Arias Sánchez government each dock worker would get a payoff of as much as $99,000. Each also may be rehired by the successful concession bidder.

The Limón docks are notoriously slow and inefficient. The docks lack modern equipment, and the unions have engaged in repeated work stoppages. Many agricultural exports pass through this port, including bananas and pineapples.  Work stoppages have been costly.

The general assembly opens today at 9 a.m. in the Gimnasio Eddy Bermúdez in Limón.

Immigration seeks members
for new appeals tribunal


The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería is seeking members for the new Tribunal Administrativo Migratorio, an independent unit created by the new immigration law.

The tribunal hears and resolves appeals of resolutions issued by the immigration department. Such appeals could be refusal to grant a visa to a foreigner.

Members of the tribunal must have five years experience in immigration matters and hold a licenciatura or master's degree in a related field, including law. Applications will be accepted in the first few days of February.


Helicopter plan advanced
to fight fires on coast

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
 
The solutions to the fires along Costa Rica's Gold Coast and in its mountainous areas during the dry season are not going to come from the badly stretched land-based fire departments but from the sea and from innovation and a little bit of copying what is done in my home state of California. 

In addition to a great deal of education regarding fire prevention, we need a helicopter based on the coast between Papagayo and Nicoya that would provide large buckets to pick up ocean water and drop it directly on to those fires.  In the case of fires in more heavily populated areas, perhaps those filled buckets could be lowered near the fires and those same buckets could be equipped with hoses and additional equipment to allow those trained volunteers on the ground to successfully contain the flames and reduce the damage.
 
Conceivably, this helicopter could be run privately and used when there were no fires for tourists wanting a bird's eye view of the area, for travelers wanting to move quickly or for medical emergencies demanding swift transportation to hospitals.
 
Given that most fires occur during the dry season and many occur in places where there simply are no water mains, the ocean seems to be our only solution and while this idea is not fully developed, I hope it may act as a seed to combine innovation, volunteerism, contributions, perhaps from the large hotels and developments sprouting along the coast, into a working project to benefit the area and those who live and vacation within it.

Article was not responsible
in talking about Internet plan

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I have to admit that I enjoy reading A.M. Costa Rica regularly, including the give and take debates in the letters to the editor.  But a recent news article concerning a new initiative by President Chinchilla, which uses a miniscule portion of the $170 million multinational corporate cell phone company deal, to help fund universal access to the Internet, crossed over the line of responsible journalism.

Rather than simply reporting the news, the article contained biased innuendos such as “the project seemed to have the trappings of social work,” which sounds like something straight out of Fox News’ “Fair and Balanced Reporting” (sic) approach to journalism.

The article noted that funds would be used by the government to help bridge the digital divide, which will undoubtedly help lower-income Costa Ricans and increase educational levels for the workforce.  This is a bad thing?  And the article also noted that program funds will be used to help “hook up schools and medical clinics” to the Internet.  Blasphemous.   Perhaps the U.S. could learn a little something from Costa Rica about trying to help support schools and encouraging workforce development in these difficult times.

If your writers must editorialize, then please add the word “Opinion” to the top of the stories, so that we do not confuse you with Fox News.