Puerto Rico teachers demand contract

Watch a support rally and interview on Peoples Video Network on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvcknPYL3s

Tens of thousands of teachers and other unionists marched to the governor’s mansion in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 17 to demand that the government resume talks with the teachers’ union over their demand for higher wages and better conditions.

Starting salary for teachers on the island is less than $20,000 a year, even though prices are higher than in many parts of the United States, which has ruled over Puerto Rico for more than a century.

The teachers are threatening to strike if the government walks out of negotiations again. The colonial government in Puerto Rico has imposed a no-strike law on school employees.

—Report and photo by Arturo Pérez-Saad