Mass Labor Action Rocks Puerto Ric id PAA28830; Sat, 4 Oct 1997 15:15:59 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the October 9, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- MASS LABOR ACTION ROCKS PUERTO RICO Sea of Humanity Surrounds Capitol--Unions Tell Governor: "No Privatization!" By Shelley Ettinger A sea of humanity filled the streets of San Juan and other Puerto Rican cities Oct. 1 in a national work stoppage and demonstration. "Puerto Rico is not for sale!" was the slogan of the day. One San Juan marcher who spoke to Workers World characterized the action as "incredibly powerful--a broad working-class fight against privatization." As of the last census, the entire population of Puerto Rico is 3.8 million. So it is truly remarkable when hundreds of thousands leave work to protest plans to sell off the government-owned telephone company, electric and water utilities, and hospitals to private business. Gov. Pedro Rossello is pushing the privatization plan as the centerpiece of his neoliberal economic policy. From one side of Puerto Rico to the other, popular opinion is strongly against the sales. Polls show two-thirds of the people oppose the privatizations. They would lead to mass layoffs, rate hikes, more hardships for the impoverished working class of the colonized island nation--and further economic penetration and domination by U.S.-based multinational corporations. The national work stoppage was called by a broad coalition. Public-sector unions, including the telephone, teachers, energy and aqueduct, electrical and hospital workers' unions, were the leading force. WORKERS SHUT DOWN SCHOOLS, STOP COMMERCE The teachers' union shut down all schools in the country for the day. Hospital workers allowed only emergency vehicles and services to operate. The aqueduct and energy workers set up picket lines at all their work sites, stopping commerce. Pickets arrived at San Juan airport at 3 a.m. No cargo moved this day and several flights were canceled. Students took over the university, allowing only those they authorized to enter. Traffic in San Juan was paralyzed for most of the day after buses from all over the country converged on the Condado area to drop off marchers at the gathering site. Ritzy tourist hotels and gambling casinos are concentrated in the Condado area. This day, tourists drawn to Puerto Rico to enjoy the island's natural beauty and vibrant culture, witnessed another aspect of Puerto Rico's national heritage: the fighting spirit of its people. HUGE MARCH ENCIRCLES CAPITOL Marchers filled the streets. It took hours for the last of them to reach the Capitol. In fact, the march was so massive that it actually encircled the Capitol. Then protesters massed in front of the Capitol to hear speakers from a range of unions and popular organizations. Left forces, including socialist and pro-independence groups, were part of the coalition that staged the national strike. Amidst the Puerto Rican flags flying at the Capitol, there were also red flags. A lesbian and gay contingent of 1,500 marched with pride, marking another progressive first for the labor movement. A broad spectrum of groups, including religious and community organizations, were involved. Although pro- statehood groupings also took part, no U.S. flags flew at the demonstration. Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States for 99 years. U.S. corporations make huge profits from their operations in Puerto Rico, where they pay workers extremely low wages. Some speakers at the rally addressed this, denouncing the role of multinational corporations in impoverishing Puerto Rico. This event was a watershed for both the labor movement and the Puerto Rican nation. And it is a warning to U.S. colonialism of more to come. ***** SOLIDARITY IN U.S. As we go to press, Workers World has learned that in at least three U.S. cities demonstrations were held in solidarity with the tremendous labor action in Puerto Rico. On the same day as the giant march in San Juan--Oct. 1-- demonstrations were quickly organized in New York, Boston and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. In New York, Puerto Rican members of 1199 Health and Hospital Workers union called a midtown picket and rally. Excitement over the powerful turnout in Puerto Rico spread quickly throughout Latino communities in the United States. The capitalist wire services reported on the action by Puerto Rico's labor unions--but in the financial news, showing how worried big business is by this development ***** WWP TO PUERTO RICO RALLY: "WE SALUTE YOUR STRUGGLE AGAINST PRIVATIZATION" [On Oct. 1, a coalition of unions in Puerto Rico headed by the Telephone Workers staged a national strike and rally against privatization with the theme, "Puerto Rico is not for sale." Workers World Party sent the following message to the rally.] Workers World Party salutes Puerto Rico's labor movement for standing up to the transnational corporations and to Gov. Pedro Rossello. Once again the corporate bosses and their puppets are working together to undermine the sovereignty and dignity of the Puerto Rican people--this time through a privatization scheme. Whatever promises and assurances are being offered to promote this scheme, they are just as false as the lies told to U.S. workers whenever their rights are about to be infringed upon. The national labor strike you are launching on Oct. 1 also serves as an inspiration to workers here in the United States, who are organizing to fight layoffs, cutbacks in social programs, racism and police brutality. We all face a global system of deceit and injustice against working people. What else explains the billions in profits that leave your homeland every year to benefit U.S. monopolies? It is no coincidence that wages in Puerto Rico average a third less than here. This new plan to privatize state-owned industries is but the latest of many attempts to increase this gap by further exploiting Puerto Rican labor. In the minds of these corporate heads, Puerto Rico is to be used for profits, no matter the cost to human lives. No one knows better than you, the workers of Puerto Rico, how brutal this would be in a country already held down in poverty for so long by the avarice of foreign corporations. Puerto Rican labor created the island's telecommunications, hospitals, schools, utilities, manufacturing, etc. It all rightfully belongs to Puerto Rico. Privatizing the country's infrastructure without the consent of the people is indeed putting the country up for sale and serves as proof of Puerto Rico's colonial plight. We in Workers World Party view support for the struggle of the Puerto Rican working class as not an option but a requirement if we are to truly combat this oppressive system that is the enemy of the workers everywhere. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. 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