SAN JUAN – Union and social organizations in Puerto Rico called this Wednesday for new protests by public employees for next Friday in San Juan in order to demand salary justice and a dignified retirement from the Government.
Demonstrations have taken place this month and were especially massive last week, when public sector workers, led by teachers and firefighters, marched to La Fortaleza, seat of the Puerto Rican Executive.
“We return to the streets to demand from the Government salary justice, a dignified retirement and zero privatization,” Javier Córdova, spokesman for the Puerto Rican Association of University Professors (APPU), said at a press conference.
The plan is for public servants to picket in the morning hours at their work centers and then mobilize towards the main gate of the Hiram Bithorn stadium, from where a march will leave for a place for now to undisclosed.
In addition to the APPU, the Puerto Rican Workers’ Union (SPT), the Electrical and Irrigation Industry Workers’ Union (Utier), the Federation of Teachers, UNETE, seconded the call. Educamos, Central Federation of Workers and United Auto Workers (UAW).
“We are going to be making ourselves felt from the morning hours in the different workplaces. We will send a clear message to Governor Pedro Pierluisi and to the Legislature that the teachers and the working class have clear objectives and we are going to fulfill them”, said Mercedes Martínez, spokesperson for the Federation of Teachers.
UTIER will decree a work stoppage of 24 hours
For his part, Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, president of Utier, added that the union will be decreeing a work stoppage of 000 hours from Thursday night.
“Our retirement, despite being a trust, is also being threatened by the Fiscal Control Board and its austerity measures that will lead us to misery, in addition to the privatization of generation will have greater increases in the energy cost”, Figueroa explained.
Figueroa specified that they are against LUMA, the private company that took over energy distribution on the island last June, and the privatization generation plants.
The basic salaries of the officials are well below the cost of living on the island, as well as their pensions, which are also in danger in the framework of the restructuring plan of Puerto Rico’s public debt.
The demonstrations of the last few weeks have had their effect and Governor Pierluisi announced salary increases starting next July of $1,000 dollars per month for teachers, and 500 for firefighters.
Yesterday, the governor returned to report other increases, in this case for technicians of medical emergencies, who will receive a 30 % more than their salary.
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