[fla-left] [labor] Teachers to pick union in P.R. (fwd)

[Michael Hoover]

> Teachers go to polls to pick union
> 
> Ivan Roman
> of The Sentinel Staff
> 
> Published in The Orlando Sentinel on November 1, 1999.
> 
> HUMACAO, Puerto Rico -- In an increasingly bitter campaign in an
> unprecedented election, two groups are battling to represent some
> 38,000 teachers in Puerto Rico at the bargaining table.
> 
> The Puerto Rico Teachers Federation, known for its street-level
> militancy, and a union arm of the Puerto Rico Teachers Association,
> an advertising and news conference war.
> 
> For the federation, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers,
> and the association, affiliated with the National Education Association,
> stakes are high, and teachers seem to know it. Almost 87 percent of
> eligible teachers came to the polls during the first of two weeks of
> voting, which ends Friday.
> 
> "It's the largest election that I can remember in more than a decade, not
> only for the NEA and the AFT but also for the labor movement of
> Puerto Rico," said Nancy Morales, national representative in Puerto
> Rico for the AFT, which has more than 1 million members.
> 
> The teachers group voted to unionize in May, under a law passed last
> year. Teachers are the first among 120,000 public employees in Puerto
> Rico who can now engage in collective bargaining to select a
> representative.
> 
> In addition to the teachers, school cafeteria workers are also voting
> during the same time, but there is just one organization on the ballot, the
> School Cafeteria Workers Union, affiliated with the United Auto
> Workers. With office, maintenance and other workers coming up for
> elections in the future, the number of employees being organized in the
> Education Department alone jumps to about 60,000 -- almost half of all
> unionized public employees.
> 
> "What's different about Puerto Rico is that it would be the single largest
> statewide affiliate we have functioning as a single bargaining unit," said
> Evelyn Temple, assistant executive director for the NEA, which has 2.4
> million members nationwide.
> 
> Many teachers can't wait. Their $22,000 annual top-scale salary is too
> low, they say, and lack of materials and substitute teachers, large class
> sizes and control over curriculum are still big problems.
> 
> "We think we should be the employees who should be the best paid
> because we are the ones molding and preparing the professionals of the
> future," said Myrna Villafranca, a 19-year elementary school teacher
> who is president of the Association in Humacao.
> 
> In Puerto Rico's islandwide centralized education system, the schools
> and the teachers often fall prey to political whims of four-year election
> cycles in which every public office is chosen on a single day. The
> Secretary of Education, appointed by the governor, in effect serves as
> islandwide schools superintendent.
> 
> "Before the education reform always came from above with us having
> no say whatsoever, forced to implement it even if it affected us," said
> Leopoldo Hernandez Estrella, 52, who has taught Puerto Rican history
> for 24 years and presides over the Federation in Humacao. "Now they
> have to deal with the active participation of those in the classroom."
> 
> The Federation, the more militant organization, is trying to convince
> teachers that its track record proves it will be the best alternative and that
> the association's union, tied to a larger group that includes
> administrators, has a conflict of interest. Association President Jose
> Eligio Velez calls that "old rhetoric" and says teachers will negotiate
> with government, not administrators.
> 
> The association has put before the press three disgruntled former
> federation members who were not happy with how the federation dealt
> with claims or complaints. The federation has justified its actions, and
> some members call those ads a "low blow."
> 
>  "Every group has members who are not happy," said Norma Sugranes,
> who has been a social worker in the schools for 28 years. "That's not the
> issue here."
> 
> [Posted 10/31/1999 9:28 PM EST]
> 
> _________________________________________
> McReynolds 2000 Committee
> "Building a Movement for Jobs, Peace and Freedom"
> P.O. Box 91, Floral Park, NY 10012
> http://votesocialist.org/