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FMPR Outside SEIU Convention (click)
The Strike Is Postponed!
Click for "Analysis of Strike"
 On March 5, the FMPR held a workers and delegates
assembly at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan,
P.R. Over 10,000 teachers came to cast their vote on the
tentative agreement reached by the union and the government.
The majority voted to postpone the strike and
demanded that the PR government uphold their end of
the agreement.
Where does the FMPR stand now? The union is still
decertified. The frame-up charges against all strikers
are not resolved including the four teachers with phony
criminal charges for participating in the daily pickets and
the 17 teachers suspended from work in Utuado. The
government promised that there will be no retaliation on
the workers for joining the picket lines or for violating
Law 45; that charter schools will not be introduced; that
facilities will be repaired; that teaching materials will be supplied by the Department of Education; that class sizes will
be reduced and that the teachers will receive a raise.
On Friday, April 4 a New York Forum on the Lessons of the PUERTO RICO STRIKE was held. FMPR speakers included Pres.Rafael
Feliciano, Tanya Hernandez, & Jose Antonio Ramos Collazo.
| March 4 Protest @ PR Federal Affairs - 32nd & Park |
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| NO to Govt & Dennis Rivera(SEIU) Unionbusting of FMPR |
Dennis Rivera's Betrayal
New Yorkers Picket Puerto Rico Govt. Offices
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| FMPR Support Committee - New York |
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| Our NY Support Committe Meets Weekly |
On February 7, 2008 over 50 individuals & representatives of different organizations met to create a NYC
- solidarity committee for the teacher's union of Puerto Rico, FMPR (la Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico). We are organizing
fundraising, media, and outreach committees. Join us!
AN URGENT CALL TO SUPPORT
THE TEACHERS'FEDERATION OF PUERTO
RICO AS FEBRUARY NATIONAL STRIKE LOOMS
February 2, 2008
Puerto Rico's teachers and workers are fighting for their
rights to free quality public education, to union independence, to freely strike, to democratic representation and against
privatization. The government of Puerto Rico, in collaboration with leaders of several U.S. unions, (e.g. the American Federation
of Teachers, SEIU, Change To Win) is attempting to destroy the rising militant and effective organizing efforts of the FMPR
to improve educational and teaching conditions on the island and to undermine opposition to President Bush's No Child Left
Behind, a privatization program on the island.
In January '08, the Puerto Rican government acted to decertify the
Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), which represents 42,000 teachers. The FMPR called for a strike vote of its Delegates'
Assembly in September 2007 that was overwhelmingly ratified by the membership. The colonial government is using the anti-strike
and other anti-labor clauses of Law 45 in its attempts to destroy the democratically elected representative of the teachers.
(Law 45 is similar to the New York State Taylor law.) The unconstitutional nature of Law 45 is currently being challenged
in the courts by the FMPR.
The FMPR has successfully fought government attempts to squash the voice of teachers and
community in decision-making in Puerto Rico's school system. The FMPR effectively seceded in 2006 from American Federation
of Teachers which abysmally failed to crusade for better conditions while collecting millions in dues money from Puerto Rican
teachers.
The FMPR has a proven track record of defending teachers, students, parents, and community control of the
educational process. It has successfully opposed the U.S. federal government's efforts to undermine the rights of Puerto Rican
teachers to exercise their judgment in the classroom and in making decisions about instruction according to their needs and
within their own context. The FMPR has steadfastly opposed all attempts at privatization fomented by the federal NCLB, inclusive
of Charter Schools.
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