In the midst of the second consecutive day of protests calling for salary justice for teachers and other public employees in Puerto Rico, Governor Pedro Pierluisi promised this Thursday to sign a bill that will increase the base salary of $1,750 to $2,573.
Also, the governor informed which will make the $1 salary increase permanent,000.
Additional, the first The executive promised to give way to another measure that seeks to increase the salaries of teachers with master’s degrees and doctorates.
“The governor reiterates his commitment to teachers: 1. Salary increase of $1,10 is permanent 2. Will sign the PS 573 to reactivate the teaching career (better salaries for teachers who obtain master’s degrees and doctorates) 3. Will sign the PC 513 to guarantee by law the increase in base salary to $2, 700 “, indicated La Fortaleza, official residence of the governor in a series of tweets.
The Pierluisi Administration will also hold a first meeting next week, through a Dialogue Table, to discuss the claim of a decent retreat for educators on the island.
“4. Creation of a Dialogue Table to seek alternatives to improve the retirement of teachers, made up of four organizations and four members of the Government”, Pierluisi and his team specified in the messages on Twitter.
These decisions were announced after the governor, from the ruling New Progressive Party, met with teacher leaders from the Teachers’ Association, Teachers’ Federation, UNETE, Educamos, the Financial Advisory Authority and Fiscal Agency (Aafaf), the Department of Education, the Retirement System and the labor advisor, Yamil Ayala, as listed by the newspaper Primera Hora.
The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico approves a resolution to pay bondholders
The news of the salary increase came along with the information that the Finance and Budget Committee of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico approved today, with seven votes in favor and five against, the resolution that authorizes the payment to bondholders and other creditors as part of the negotiation of the Debt Adjustment Plan (PDA) to get out of bankruptcy.
The New York judge, Laura Taylor Swain, confirmed the PDA in mid-January almost five years after the Island, a territory of the United States for more than a century, declared bankruptcy.
This plan puts the pensions of teachers and other public employees at risk in the long term, and considerably limits funds to key institutions such as the University of Puerto Rico , for which several labor and academic sectors unsuccessfully requested, through protests, a new renegotiation.
The concurrent resolution proposes to amend the current budget to authorize the transactions and payments to creditors ordered in the plan. The legislative piece contains two budget allocations, as reported this week by the newspaper El Vocero.
One is for $48 million and was only identified as “Citizen Welfare for Puerto Rich”; while some $7.5 million of a total amount of $9 million would be earmarked for the creation of a Budget Legislation Office.
Representative Jesús Santa, president of the Finance and Budget Committee of that body , indicated to the aforementioned media outlet that the item of $48 million, which he named a small barrel, will go to the towns for needs that are not they can be met with federal or municipal funds.
While the item of $9 million would complement the current budget of the Legislature, which was reduced.
The foregoing is part of the Concurrent Resolution 278 that authorizes the payment of more than $10,000 million to bondholders under the Adjustment Plan. The legislative piece also amends the current budget, of $10,112 million to $48,335 million, to include the first debt service payment in five years.
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Increase of $1,000 monthly to teachers in Puerto Rico does not convince participants of the “Great March of Indignation” for salary improvement and dignified retirement