PUERTO RICO
Water workers take to streets in contract struggle
By Arturo J. Pérez Saad
Striking workers from the Independent Authentic Union (UIA)
of the government-run Sewers and Aqueducts Authority (AAA)
effectively stopped traffic on several avenues in the San Juan,
Puerto Rico, metropolitan area on Nov. 23. Local police and the
National Guard then broke up this direct action with repressive
force.
Willie Vega, the UIA's official media spokesperson, said
that a number of the workers were hurt.
The union had gone out on a national strike on Oct. 5 over
the primary issue of medical care after negotiations with the
AAA broke down. It had been in negotiations ever since the
expiration of the water workers' contract in June 2003.
The day after the clash with police, the workers marched to
La Fortaleza, the governor's mansion, demanding she personally
intervene in the collective bargaining over a contract. Gov.
Sila M. Calderón retaliated by issuing a statement the
following day vilifying the UIA for its actions and demands,
attempting to justify the government's brutal actions against
the water workers.
On the morning of Nov. 26 the UIA organized eight busloads
of workers to go from the different work sites they were
picketing to Plaza Las Américas, the largest mall in
Puerto Rico. After negotiations with P.R. and mall police, the
workers were allowed to enter the mall.
"They went to Plaza Las Américas with their green
shirts calmly and orderly to make known to the public that
there is still a strike which has not been resolved by the
Puerto Rican government," said Juan Ramos, president of the
union's bargaining unit. In a festive cultural spirit, the
workers sang holiday songs to music called parranda. This was
done under heavy police surveillance and intimidation.
Around noon they left the mall, chanting, "Workers united
will never be defeated!" and marched to the headquarters of the
Department of Labor.
On Nov. 27, "We marched in a well-attended protest from the
Grande supermarket to Howard Johnson Hotel and back," said
Ramos. (El Nuevo Día)
But the government continues to stonewall the union. On Nov.
28, the government-run AAA made a reduced offer to the UIA.
This new economic counterproposal for the next five years is a
rancid morsel that offers only 1/23rd of what the UIA had
originally asked for.
Ramos says the workers "will be more lively" in the days to
come, with direct actions similar to those that have taken
place, and that "the strike will end when the bosses do the
just and reasonable thing that the workers are asking for."
On Nov. 29 hundreds of UIA workers protested the AAA's
counter-offer in front of the State Department and the
headquarters of Triple S. (El Nuevo Día) Last August the
bosses, without the workers' consent, had chosen Triple S as a
substitute for their medical plan. The workers once again
stopped traffic and were met with a heavy police force. An
elderly resident of the area was hurt by police.
The workers chanted, "There will be no peace if the contract
is not settled."
Reprinted from the Dec. 9, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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