BY RON RICHARDS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - One thousand workers staged a militant protest here May 27 against the imminent sale of the state-owned Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC). The protest was attacked by police, who, greatly outnumbered by the unionists, were forced to negotiate a retreat. Later that day, Gov. Pedro Rosselló made the formal announcement that the telephone company would be sold to a consortium led by GTE.

The noontime march was held in front of the central offices of the PRTC. Telephone workers arrived from all the metro work sites. At first the rally was almost entirely outside workers in their uniforms and steel-toed boots. Then the inside workers poured out of the three buildings, many of them women, and the crowd grew rapidly to about 1,000 people. The picket line took up two lanes of traffic for blocks.

The vast majority of the marchers were members of the Independent Union of Telephone Employees (UIET), which organizes the workers at the PRTC, or the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Employees, which organizes professionals such as engineers and accountants. A small number of other unions, such the waterworks union and the teachers from the University of Puerto Rico, were also represented.

Demonstrators chanted, "Workers' rights cannot be sold for money." Another chant called for a 24-hour general strike. Last October 1 there had been a one-day general strike, including a march of 100,000 people, focused largely on opposition to the sell-off of the phone company.

At a certain point the crowd swelled across to the north side of the avenue and closed it to traffic. About 20 cops mobilized and began shoving the demonstrators with their batons. The police had left their left flank open, and workers on the southern half of the avenue surged behind them. The police quickly stopped pushing people as they realized they were outnumbered 50-to-1 and could not move in any direction.

After a few minutes of tense negotiations the cops were allowed to retreat while the crowd chanted "Out! Out! Out!"

Wilma Colón, writing in El Nuevo Día noted, "More than a thousand employees achieved what is seldom achieved - the riot squad retreated from a boiling confrontation that for a few minutes appeared headed for the most serious consequences."

A few minutes later union monitors opened the avenue to traffic again, although the traffic jam lasted another hour. Before the marchers dispersed and returned to work, union officials called for a second protest at 5:00 p.m. The plan was to rally and then organize a caravan to the capitol to demand that the legislators veto the sale.

Sold to GTE
Late that afternoon, Rosselló went on television and announced that just over 50 percent of the PRTC stock would be sold to a private consortium led by the U.S. telecommunications giant GTE. A second member of the consortium is Banco Popular, the largest bank in Puerto Rico. Three percent of the stock would be given to the employees, who would have an option to buy another 3 percent. The remaining 44 percent would be allocated to the government employees' retirement plan, which has liabilities that far exceed its assets. The sale price is $1.87 billion, of which only $375 million is in cash.

The PRTC is about $700 million dollars in debt. About $1 billion is supposed to be used to finance water supply projects. GTE is the third largest telephone company in the United States, with 94,000 employees. The international division of GTE has an additional 20,000 employees in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, and Europe.

Writing in the May 29 El Nuevo Día, Maribel Ferrer Gil and Mari Carmen Schell attacked the sale, saying that the government sold it too cheaply. They calculated that at a price of $1,982 dollars per access line, this was a bargain compared to the $3,300 per access line that was paid for Southwestern New England Telecommunications or the $2,509 for Telefónica del Perú.

The planned sell-off of the phone company has generated widespread opposition in Puerto Rico over the past months. Many working people are opposed to the prospect of rate hikes and layoffs, and believe the new owners will ignore service in the mountainous rural areas. They are concerned this will lead to the sale of other state-run companies.

In last October's labor march, the four largest contingents were from the government-owned telephone, electricity, and water companies as well as the teachers.

On May 31 delegates of the UIET voted in a special meeting to call another 24-hour general strike, the date of which has yet to be determined.

Ron Richards is a member of the American Federation of Government Employees in San Juan.  
 
 
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