July 7 and 8 saw a two day General Strike against the privatisation of the public telephone company in Puerto Rico.
Thousands of workers on 150 picket lines across the island popularised the slogan "Puerto Rico no se vende." (Puerto Rico's not for sale). In this Spanish-speaking U.S. colony, the slogan expresses both opposition to privatisation and the rule of the market and anti-colonial sentiment in an island practically owned by U.S. multinationals.
The ruling New Progressive Party sees this privatisation - one of many - as part of its plan to completely intergrate Puerto Rico into the United States, to have it accepted as the 53rd state.
On June 18, 2,200 workers from the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers (HIETEL) and 4,200 from the Independent of Telephone Workers (UIET) went on strike against the government's plan to sell the phone company.
The phone company is a prof. itable enterprise which generates income which the government reinvests in social services such as education. 2,700 jobs are expected to go.
When the strike started, Governor Pedro Rosselló called out the riot police to beat up pickets who were being too effective in preventing scabs entering the plants across the island. When TV images of the vicious police assaults were broadcast, thousands flocked to the picket lines to strengthen the strike.
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.
Students too were strong supporters of the actions. Rossello suceeded in uniting everyone against him.
On June 28, more than 5,000 delegates from trade unions and community organizations voted for a national strike. The assembly of the Greater Committee of Labor Organisations (Comité Amplio de Organizaciones Sindicales, Cívicas, Religiosas, Ecológicas y Culturales - C.A.O.S.) was made up of delegates from more than 60 unions and a number of student, community, and environmental groups that have joined in the struggle against privatisation.
Shop stewards and rank and file workers were included, and 50 percent of the delegates were The organisation's spokesperson is Annie Cruz, head of the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Employees.
CAOS was formed last August in response to previous battles against privatisations and attacks from the bosses in other sectors. Workers in electric power generating plants, in the aqueduct and sewer authority, and education workers face privatisation through different mechanisms, ranging from proposed. voucher systems for private schools to subcontracting the work of electrical and aqueduct workers. CAOS organised a one-day general stoppage and a demonstration of 100,000 people against the privatisation of the phone company in October - possibily the largest mobilisation in the history of Puerto Rico. Since then, it has been at the forefront of the struggles and has provided a way for delegates and rank and file workers from many different unions to talk directly to each other. About 200,000 workers took part in the general strike, mainly in the public sector. San Juan's International Airport was paralysed by a massive blockade by thousands of unionists the morning of July 7, while all 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 U.S. Taft-Hartley labor law, which applies to Puerto Rico. Private sector workers refused to cross picket lines.
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