Costa Rica

Organization responsible for the statistics

The statistics are collected, compiled and published by the Departamento de Relaciones de Trabajo, Registro Diario.

Objectives and users

Not available.

Coverage

Strikes and lockouts

Information not available.

Minimum threshold Duration of two hours and at least three workers involved.

Economic activities

No particular branches of economic activity or sectors are excluded.

Workers

Workers directly involved, workers indirectly involved and workers rendered idle in economic units other than those involved in the strike. The statistics only cover regular paid employees. Temporary, casual and seasonal workers, part-time workers or unpaid family workers are not included, nor are workers laid off, or workers absent on sick or annual leave or absent for any other reason.

No particular occupational groups are excluded.

Geographic areas

Whole country.

Types of data collected

Concepts and definitions

Legal strike (huelga legal)

A temporary work stoppage in an enterprise, establishment or business, agreed upon and carried out peacefully by a group of three or more workers, exclusively with a view to improving or defending their joint economic and social interests.

Lockout (paro)

A temporary work stoppage ordered by two or more employers, which is carried out in a peaceful way and with an exclusive view to defending their joint economic and social interests. A lockout always involves the total closure of the enterprise, establishment or business involved.

The definitions come from the Constitución Política, Código de Trabajo.

Methods of measurement

Strikes and lockouts

The basic unit of measurement used to record a strike is the case of dispute or the economic unit. A strike that is interrupted but later resumes, still due to the same case of dispute, is counted as a new strike when it resumes.

Work stoppages arising from the same case of dispute, occurring simultaneously in different establishments of the same enterprise are counted as one strike. Those arising from the same case of dispute, occurring at different times in different establishments of the same enterprise or simultaneously or at different times in establishments of different enterprises are counted as different strikes.

Economic units involved

The economic unit is the enterprise, defined as an organization composed of staff, material and non-material elements under a single management, established for economic and legal purposes. It includes economic, technical and personnel components. It is an economic unit with legal relationships.

Workers involved

The number of workers involved is the highest number of workers involved at any one time during the strike.

Duration

The duration of a strike is measured in workdays from the date the strike began to the date it terminated in the economic unit involved.

Time not worked

Total time not worked is measured in workdays by estimating the amount of time not worked on each day of the strike, and summing these totals. Overtime is not taken into account.

Classifications

None.

Reference period and periodicity

The statistics are compiled for periods of a year. They refer to strikes beginning during the particular reference period plus those continuing from the previous period.

Analytical measures

None.

Historical background of the series

Not available.

Documentation

Series available

Not available.

Bibliographic references

None.

Data published by the ILO

The number of strikes, the number of workers involved and the number of days not worked, by economic activity.

Confidentiality

Not available.

International standards

Not available.

Methods of data collection

There is a legal obligation applying to both parties concerned to report the occurrence of a strike to the police authorities, supplying information concerning the legality or illegality of the strike. In accordance with the Labour Code (section 381), in the event of an illegal strike, the Courts of Justice notify the police authorities, who ensure by any means at their disposal the continuation of work. A copy of this communication is sometimes sent to the Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social. If it is a legal strike (which is practically never the case), once the strike is called, the court of the Jurisdiction informs the Ministry that this is the case so that it can take appropriate action. This provision of section 366 of the Labour Code is in practice never applied.

Information is also collected by direct enquiry following reports in newspapers and other media.