|
President Laura Chinchilla seems doomed to inheriting the worst legacy possible from all previous governments and in July, the decades-old financial crisis afflicting the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) finally exploded. With the government owing the CCSS US$845m (US$180m in 2011 alone), the situation had reached breaking point and CCSS workers nationwide, including those working in public hospitals and other health related institutions, decided to go on a 6-day strike (18-23 July) to bring what they describe as poor working conditions and backlogged pay to everyone’s attention. However, after massive disruptions, low adhesion (officially 6% average throughout the measure) and (unconfirmed) denunciations that the strike had led to deaths, the action came to an end with no concrete results to speak of.
The discontent that led to the strike began brewing after the office of the prosecutor general ruled that sick CCSS employees were entitled only to a portion of their salary, not full pay, whilst on sick leave like the rest of the Costa Rican workforce. Regardless of the ethical and legal discussions still taking place in Costa Rica over the ruling, the truth is the decision appears to be based on financial needs: according to an official CCSS internal study, between 2008 and 2010 the institution had to hire temporary workers to fill in for half of its employees due to illness.
This represented a total of 2.8m sick days for 46,216 workers – just over half of whom (24,161) claimed sick leave benefits more than once a year. The report also points out that it is normal for eight out of every 10 employees to claim sick leave at least five times per year, with 14 people in 2010 missing work 50 times or more in relation to numerous illnesses. In monetary terms, between 2009 and 2010, the CCSS spent ¢84.2bn (US$167.16m) to cover sick days at full pay for absent employees. The problem for the government and the unions representing the strikers is that after five days in which the medical system was significantly affected, both parties declared a successful resolution of the conflict without real, concrete commitments from either side. The only agreement reached stipulates the creation of bilateral committees, with members from the CCSS and the government, to discuss salaries, benefits and the state’s debt with the CCSS.
Chinchilla made two key changes in her 28 July reshuffle: she sacked Health Minister María Luis Avila in the wake of the CCSS crisis and she moved Foreign Minister René Castro to the environment ministry. The decision to move Castro was a response to accusations from the opposition and the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) that he had been “naive” in his handling of the border dispute with Nicaragua late last year. It could also owe to the recent foreign ministry scandal [RC-11-07] although Chinchilla explicitly denied this. Castro will be replaced on 5 September by Enrique Castillo Barrantes, the current ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
|
