On the question of labour law in Panama, one of the important things to realize is that there was a profound political crisis that erupted in the summertime over the institution of the new labour law in Panama. There were deaths. It was a very profound crisis.
The law was then withdrawn after the objections of civil society. What happened was that the most egregious aspects of the law were withdrawn. However, there are still problems with limitations on the right of freedom of association in Panama. There are restrictions on the right to hold office. The minimum number of workers to form a union is 40. Therefore, for example, to avoid unionization, companies will restructure themselves to make sure that they have fewer than 40 employees.
There are problems with the federations and confederations having the right to strike. There are limitations on the right to strike in enterprises that have been in existence for less than two years. We've talked about the problems in the Canal Zone and in the zone of BarĂº.There are severe limitations on the right of maritime workers to strike. There's a very broad definition of what essential public services are, and therefore, there is no right to strike for them. They have compulsory arbitration in that case. Again, a minimum of 40 workers are required to form an association.
Some of the other problems with labour law have to do with organizing and collective bargaining and problems with short-term contracts and subcontracting. There were other decrees that were meant to deal with some of the most difficult areas on those issues, but we have no real way of knowing to what extent those 2009 decrees have actually been enforced.