After almost five hours of dialogue, the Costa Rican Government and the labor unions were not able to reach any agreements.

During the first “preliminary meeting” held by both parties with the mediation of the Catholic Church at the Archbishop’s Palace in San Jose, each group laid out their positions and their requests, no agreements were reached and therefore the meeting will continue tomorrow at 9 a.m., this time at the Juan XXII School in Cartago.

The Government maintains its position of not negotiating if labor unions don’t put a stop to the protests, while the labor unions demand that the Government withdraws the fiscal plan currently in discussion in the Legislative Assembly first to call off the strike.

Labor unions confirm the protests will continue tomorrow for the 11th day, and affirm that more people have chosen to support their movement; however, the Government maintains the opposite, affirming that a group of public workers have decided to go back to their jobs.

Health Services and specially Education remain the two public sectors with higher participation of employees in the strike.

In the Social Security Service, they reported today a general affectation of 12.9% , many of the employees that joined the movement are nurses and personnel of the laundry area. Surgeries continue to be cancelled every day because of the impossibility of forming the teams of professionals needed.

“No health center has been working at 100%, 34.48% had effects of over 10% of their capacity. Surgeries continue to be the most affected service, with 30.8% in general and 100% affectation in specific hospitals such as the Ciudad Neilly Hospital and the Golfito Hospital”.

When it comes to public education, the Ministry states that 52% of the public schools and high schools remain closed.