Puerto Rican telephone strike
The Puerto Rican telephone workers' strike against the sale of the company is at a critical stage. After a victorious general strike on July 7 and 8, and after getting strong support from the people, workers' attendance on the picket lines and public opinion of the strike has begun to decay.
Several factors explain this. The main one could be the vacillating positions taken by both telephone workers' unions, turning the strike's focus from opposition to the sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC) to the demand for no reprisals. On July 16, both unions, in separate assemblies, characterised by the combative attitude of the members, approved resolutions in that direction.
On July 18, Annie Cruz, president of the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers, resigned as coordinator of the Greater Committee of Trade Unions (CAOS) which led more than 60 organisations in calling the general strike. She cited personal reasons, as well as her perception that her work in CAOS was not appreciated. She added that the direction of the strike was the telephone unions' problem.
This reflects internal conflicts among the trade union leaderships that are not new, but were dampened by the effervescence of the anti-privatisation movement. Their revival shows the decline of the movement's initiative.
CAOS named a provisional coordinating committee, formed by José Valentin, president of the Electrical Workers Union and a hard critic of the telephone union leaders recent positions; Jesus Delgado, vice-president of the Teachers Federation; and José Juan Hernández, president of the Independent Union of Telephone Workers.
In July 21 declarations, José Fernandez, spokesperson for Telefonica Internacional SA (TISA), the Spanish-based consortium offering to buy the PRTC, announced that TISA had been informed that Governor Pedro Rosselló had decided to accept the purchase offer from US-based multinational GTE.
Not only is GTE's monetary offer lower than TISA's, but other conditions of the sale are also worse. While TISA promised to guarantee the PRTC workers' jobs for five years, and GTE has guaranteed them for only one.
[Abridged from an article written and distributed on the internet by José Fortuno.]