By César Ayala
GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico
Thousands of demonstrators on 150 picket lines across Puerto Rico have popularised the slogan "Puerto Rico no se vende" — "Puerto Rico is not for sale", or "Puerto Rico does not sell out". The slogan expresses the broad popular sentiment against the downsizing rhetoric of "globalisation", "competitiveness" and "open markets" on the one hand, and anti-colonial sentiment in an island practically owned by US-based multinationals.
Two in every three residents oppose the sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC) to US-based multinational GTE. The sale was the issue behind the two-day general strike that paralysed the island on July 7 and 8.
Almost three weeks before the general strike, 2200 workers from the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers (HIETEL) and 4200 from the Independent Union of Telephone Workers (UIET) struck against the government's plan to sell the phone company.
The company generates income which the government reinvests in social services such as education.
GTE is a notorious downsizer. If the sale takes place, workers expect 2700 lay-offs, and consumers expect higher prices for basic services.
Privatisation will also mean less efficient phone services in poor rural areas. These areas have been connected to the telephone network by the state-owned corporation but will likely be neglected by private capital interested only in highly profitable segments of the market. The privatisation will also likely exacerbate the inequality of access to information and communications.
When the phone workers' strike started on June 18, Governor Pedro Rosselló called out the riot police to beat up picketers preventing scabs from entering telecommunications facilities all over the island.
When TV images of police beating strikers were broadcast, thousands of other unionists and the general public flocked to the picket lines to strengthen the strike. University students joined them. Motorists passing the facilities in San Juan donated more than $100,000 for the strike fund in the first 10 days.
The Electrical Workers Union went on strike for three days, water authority workers struck for 24 hours, and the Teamsters paralysed the ports during the first week of the telephone strike.
'The people's strike'
On June 28, more than 5000 delegates from trade unions and community organisations voted to approve a national strike.
The assembly of the Greater Committee of Labour Organisations (Comité Amplio de Organizaciones Sindicales, CÃvicas, Religiosas, Ecologicas y Culturales — CAOS) was made up of delegates from more than 60 unions and a number of student, community and environmental groups which have joined the struggle against privatisation.
Shop stewards and rank and file workers were included, and 50% of the delegates were women. The organisation's spokesperson is Annie Cruz, head of the HIETEL.
CAOS was formed last August. It organised a one-day general stoppage and a demonstration of 100,000 people against the privatisation of the phone company in October.
Since then, it has been at the forefront of the struggles against lay-offs, downsizing and privatisation. It has provided a way for delegates and rank and file workers from many different unions to talk directly to each other about common issues.
Labour came out of the corner it had been in for decades with the call for a general strike, and it discovered that it enjoys the sympathies of the overwhelming majority of the population. Thousands of stickers on cars state that the phone workers' strike is also "la huelga del pueblo" — "the people's strike".
About 200,000 workers took part in the general strike, mainly in the public sector. San Juan International Airport was paralysed by a massive highway blockade by thousands of unionists on the morning of July 7, and around the country the principal shopping malls, government offices, all public transport, all campuses of the University of Puerto Rico and all banks were closed.
Pickets by government workers also stopped operations in several industrial parks and in private companies where workers are prevented from engaging in solidarity strikes by the infamous US Taft-Hartley labour law, which applies to Puerto Rico. Private sector workers, such as the drivers of the privatised Metrobus company in San Juan, organised by Teamsters Local 901, refused to cross picket lines.
Despite the international media reporting that Puerto Rico was paralysed on July 7 and 8, the government is denying that the strike had any impact. On the other hand, it has spent a fortune in full-page advertisements in the principal US newspapers assuring investors that Puerto Rico has no "labour problems" and that "the strike had very little island-wide support and did not materially affect the island's robust economy".
The fight continues
On July 11, 108 representatives of organisations belonging to CAOS met to assess the success of the general strike and plan for the future.
The 12 regional committees of CAOS are planning a series of local activities to continue supporting the telephone workers.
In eastern Puerto Rico, one privatised regional hospital and three health clinics closed down on July 11 when the owning company declared bankruptcy. Privatisation has opened the way for the plunder of public assets by private corporations, which then close operations.
The regional committee of CAOS in the eastern city of Humacao held a demonstration on July 16 demanding that the sub-regional hospital return to government hands. The Union Nacional de Trabajadores de la Salud, a Service Employees International Union affiliate, will join the strike.
The phone workers have become an example for other workers facing the ravages of neo-liberal privatisation.
Workers in electric power plants, in the aqueduct and sewer authority and all levels of education face privatisation through different mechanisms, ranging from subcontracting to voucher systems for private schools.
At the July 11 meeting, unionists discussed fundraising and support actions for the telephone strikers. José Juan Hernández, president of the UIET, said there will be a meeting of delegates from all 60 unions to discuss the possibility of another general strike, possibly in August.
The Rosselló administration has stated categorically that the privatisation of the PRTC will go forward. However, it is now also negotiating with Spanish multinational TISA, which is apparently offering no lay-offs, no charge increases and a better price for the phone company.
Workers are speculating whether this is a face-saving move in the context of a withdrawal of GTE, or simply a ruse against the strikers. In any case, the offer by TISA is likely to delay the sale for another six months.
Alfonso BenÃtez, a rank and file leader of the UIET, states that the phone workers' struggle against privatisation will continue: "Depending on timing and circumstance, we will fight against privatisation either from the picket line or from our job stations".