BY ERNIE MAILHOT
MIAMI - After 41 days on strike, 6,400 telephone workers in Puerto Rico returned to work July 29. The strikers had voted overwhelmingly to accept a union agreement with the Puerto Rico Telephone Co. and the island's government.

The workers struck to oppose the sale of the state-owned utility to a consortium led by U.S. telecommunications giant GTE. The labor battle, which was backed by a July 7-8 general strike called by a coalition of 50 unions, became a focal point of working-class opposition to the government's economic policies and an expression of nationalist sentiment.

Meanwhile, the pro-statehood administration of Gov. Pedro Rosselló is moving ahead with plans to sell the utility to GTE for $2 billion, a slightly higher price than it had originally agreed to before the strike.

According to the agreement ending the strike, the only sanction against the strikers would be a letter of reprimand that will remain in workers' files for six months.

Unionists returned to work in a defiant mood. In the western city of Mayaguez, members of the Independent Union of Telephone Workers (UIET) said they would refuse to enter work until a security guard known for harassing the strikers was removed from his post.

Dozens of workers were blocked from going back to work at Plaza Celulares Telefónica in San Juan on the first day back because they were wearing pro-union T-shirts that condemned police brutality against strikers and criticized strikebreakers. The workers refused to accept official company T-shirts offered to them in exchange.

Another five unionists were given indefinite suspensions in Ponce. The company accused them of attacking other workers during the strike.

José Damián Díaz, a representative of the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers (HIETEL), said in a telephone interview from the union's headquarters in San Juan, "The company has violated the agreement by suspending 10 workers. They suspended them for supposed insubordination to supervisors, lack of respect, and threatening acts."

In a phone interview, Iván Velásquez, a member of HIETEL, said the returning telephone workers are anything but defeated. "Our morale is good. The strike was worth it because of the positive results," said Velásquez. " Our unions are stronger. There were very few strikebreakers," he said, referring to the little over 100 telephone workers who crossed the picket line.

Cecilia Ortiz, another HIETEL member, said the massive support in the Puerto Rican population that the strikers received was one of the biggest accomplishments of the strike. As an example, she pointed to the two-day island-wide general strike in July by half a million workers to back the telephone strikers.

During this reporter's visit to Puerto Rico during the general strike, it was common to hear workers explaining their support for the strike by saying that the telephone company was part of the patrimony of Puerto Rico and they opposed its sale. Several of them added that while they might not be able to stop the sale of the telephone company right now, the strike was a success nonetheless because it showed the potential strength of working people, and it showed Rosselló that the government would be in for a real fight in future moves to sell off other state-owned enterprises.

Ernie Mailhot is a member of the International Association of Machinists Local 1126 in Miami. Rollande Girard contributed to this article.  
 
 
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