Panama construction strike enters 5th week

THOUSANDS of construction workers who have been on strike for 28 days gathered in Parque Porras on Tuesday, May 15 and vowed to continue the work stoppage until a collective agreement with the employers’  Association (Capac) for 2018-21 is signed.

They rejected the call made to their union, ( Suntracs)  by President  Juan Carlos Varela to seek arbitration, and return to work on May 15 . When general secretary Saúl Méndez, put it to a vote, there was only one in favor of arbitration.

A day earlier   (Capac) announced that as the parties had failed to reach a  negotiated agreement, arbitration was the only viable option.

Arbitration is listed in article 452 of the Labor Code and, according to the Capac would result in the suspension of the strike and the immediate return of the workers to their jobs and allow the immediate reactivation of 260 paralyzed projects, allowing workers to receive full salaries and benefits.

The continuation of the strike is causing concern among organizers of World Youth Day in January 2019, with an expected influx of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims relying on the completion of Metro line 2 and the expansion of Tocumen International Airport.

Varela’s call for arbitration was made before he left on a trip to the UK and Israel.  He will return on January 19, by which time the estimated cost to the economy will have reached nearly  $1 billion.