By Wendy Anders

The Costa Rican Chamber of Private Businesses (UCCAEP, in Spanish) announced yesterday they filed a case on Monday in the constitutional court denouncing what they describe as disproportional privileges granted to employees of the state-owned oil refinery, Recope.

Earlier this year, Recope announced they were curtailing some long standing employee benefits, but UCCAEP members say there are still too many excesses in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the employees’ union and Recope management.

“Costa Ricans would have to give paid leave to employees to attend the patron saint celebrations in their home town, subsidies to buy eye glasses, extended leave permits for union leaders, and large scholarships to travel abroad to attend conferences and seminars, among others.”

The Chamber considers these benefits, which are paid for out of the company’s publicly-funded operating budget, and irrational and disproportionate misuse of public funds, said UCCAEP in a press statement.

“This is abusive and has to be stopped immediately. Where are the austerity measures and adjustments that this country needs? What is the impact of these benefits in terms of greater efficiency and effectiveness in the services provided by these employees and the institution?” said Franco Arturo Pacheco, president of UCCAEP.

According to Pacheco, the initial reductions made to employee benefits earlier this year represent only 5 percent of the CRC25 billion collective bargaining agreement, said UCCAEP in their case to the high court.

“We had announced that we would present a series of legal actions to curb these abuses, because we must prevent consumers from continuing to finance with their taxes the privileges of public sector officials that weaken the country’s competitiveness,” explained the president of UCCAEP.

The legal action points out that these benefits are unconstitutional because they violate the principle of proportionality, since there is no reasonable relation between the goals of the agreement and the extent of the resources allocated to favor a relatively small number of public sector employees, concluded UCCAEP.