Public Employee Press

Puerto Rico gets labor's support


By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Isla Verde's popular municipal beach is 15 minutes walking distance to San Juan's casinos and a 15-minute drive to Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport.

But this summer the airport may be getting more visitors than the beach or casinos as Puerto Ricans leave the island in droves, escaping a cash-strapped and debt-ridden economy that can only offer the island's 3.5 million residents low-paying jobs with few benefits and a high cost of living.

From 2006 to 2015, the island lost 53,000 manufacturing jobs and in the public sector 88,000 government jobs have disappeared, according to Cesar Ayala, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Ayala was one of the speakers at a recent teach-in on the island's financial crisis held at the Manhattan headquarters of 32BJ SEIU.

"It is an economy that is totally controlled by foreign corporations," he said of Puerto Rico's financial woes.

The teach-in was sponsored by VAMOS4PR, a coalition of community groups and labor unions that includes District Council 37, the United Auto Workers, the Fiscal Policy Institute and Comite Noviembre, among many others.

In his presentation Steve Abrecht, former director of research with 32BJ SEIU, blamed the island's financial crisis on "an artificial economic model imposed on Puerto Rico."

DC 37 was one of the first unions to urge the U.S. Congress to address the island's financial crisis and in December sent four busloads of union activists to the nation's capital to lobby members of Congress. They met with Congress member Joseph Crowley and aides from the offices of Congress members Peter King and Daniel Donovan Jr.

Members lobby in Washington

Prior to their meeting, the activists held a press conference where DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido expressed his concern that unscrupulous hedge fund investors are exploiting the island's financial crisis by demanding austerity policies - more layoffs, lower wages and higher sales taxes - be imposed on Puerto Rican workers.

"It's up to labor to stand up for righteous causes, and this is a righteous cause," said Garrido, who was joined in Washington by DC 37 President Eddie Rodriguez, who is also president of Local 1549.

In addition to calling for a restructuring of the debt and equity in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement with states, the union called for extending the child tax credit, and allowing Puerto Ricans to be covered by the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party presidential contender, has proposed Congress grant the island the same authority states have to enable severely troubled government entities, including municipalities and public corporations, to restructure their debts under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"Puerto Ricans are proud American citizens who work hard and contribute to our nation and they deserve a chance to get ahead," Clinton said on the campaign trail.

Puerto Rico receives less under the federal reimbursement rate for Medicaid and Medicare than states. Since 2008, Clinton has been calling for an end to the unfair reimbursement rates.

The U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on May 19 to address Puerto Rico's financial crisis. But activists from VAMOS4PR say the proposed bill does not do enough to protect government workers' pensions and opposes its cuts to Puerto Rico's minimum wage.

"This bill does not go far enough to protect Puerto Rican workers and retirees," Garrido said.

The new bill, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stabilization Act (PROMESA), does not provide any economic stimulus, allows the governor to cut the minimum wage, offers no long-term solution to the Medicaid inequity and creates a financial control board.

The day after the proposal was introduced in Congress, the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, DC 37's national union, and the Service Employees International Union, sent a letter to Congress urging that representatives get back to work and amend the bill. "Congress must get back to work immediately to provide real solutions that allow Puerto Rico to negotiate a feasible debt restructuring plan that protects workers and retirees and provides economic stimulus so the territory may achieve economic growth," the letter said.

The government is facing a $1.9 billion payment due on July 1, which Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has announced the government will not be able to pay.