Puerto Rico’s teachers battling takeover by U.S. union

The Puerto Rico Teachers Federation (FMPR, its Spanish initials) was formed in 1966 and has been affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers since then. Last year, on Sept. 29, the members voted by an overwhelming 70-percent margin to disaffiliate from the AFT, charging corruption and demanding self-management and self-determination.

Before last year’s vote to disaffiliate, the AFT had launched an all-out attack to try by extra-legal, backroom and illegal means to place the FMPR—the largest union in Puerto Rico, representing 43,000 teachers—under AFT trusteeship.

Now, on July 7-8, FMPR President Rafael Feliciano Hernandez denounced the continuous assault at the AFT’s Quest Conference in Washington, D.C.

The FMPR brought a small delegation of representatives to expose the undemocratic assault via a news conference, daily pickets and distributing literature to AFT representatives. The FMPR delegation also held signs reading, in Spanish, “Dues Suck ers” and “AFL-CIO, Out of Puerto Rico.”

This latest protest came after the AFT moved to self-appoint Félix Rodríguez, ex-president of the FMPR, as overseer of the FMPR. Under his watch the FMPR health-care plan and funds totaling $43 million disappeared; the U.S. AFT did nothing to investigate this horrendous assault on the Puerto Rican workers.

Since the privatization of public services begun under Gov. Roselló a decade ago, a number of unions formerly affiliated with the AFL-CIO have taken an independent route. These unions voted successfully to disaffiliate from the U.S. AFL-CIO, due largely to the workers’ desire to have a direct say in how their dues money is managed and how the union is run.

Feliciano Hernandez said that since the democratic vote last September, “The AFT has neither legal nor moral authority over the Puerto Rico Teachers’ Federation. What it must do is accept and respect the will of our membership and leave us alone so we can work peacefully in representing the teaching professionals of Puerto Rico.” (indymediapr.org, July 7)

Words of solidarity to the FMPR can be sent to [email protected] or by calling 787-766-1818 or
fax 787-282-6122 or visiting their website at www.fmprlucha.org (Spanish) as well as sending letters to the AFT.