'State of emergency' in Panama after strike leads to layoffs

Workers went on strike a month ago in the province of Bocas del Toro, blocking roads and halting school instruction to protest a pension reform approved by Congress. Construction workers have also been striking for the past month over the pension reforms. The "state of emergency" declaration allows the government to speed past bureaucratic hurdles to address economic or social crises quickly. Bocas del Toro lives off tourism and banana production. Chiquita, which employed more than 7,000 workers...