FMPR's Split from the AFT

The Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) - the AFT's second largest union local prior to leaving in 2004 - represents 45,000 educators. Affiliated to the AFT in the 60's, the local received minimal support, serving as a cash cow to AFT coffers on the mainland. Control was maintained via highly paid bureaucrats, while schools, students and teachers languished under untenable conditions. Corruption and mismanagement led to a scandalous "missing" $43 million, resulting in the bankruptcy of the FMPR Health Plan. Members questioned the utility of affiliation and overwhelmingly elected an anti-corruption caucus, CODEMI, to lead the FMPR union in May 2003.

Historically, the AFT relied on government lobbying as its'organizing strategy for the FMPR, functioning as the classical business/company union. Puerto Rican teachers paid $2.6 million in annual dues to the AFT, with little or no funds expended to impact the dire conditions in the island's 1000+ public schools. In addition, with inadequate finances and an ineffective AFT-backed leadership, the FMPR members were left to their own devices to:

* fight for salary increases (average salary is a meager $25,000),

* oppose the increasing imposition of and reliance upon irrelevant standardized testing for students

* expose the privatization goals of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and promote alternatives

* organize for the repeal of anti-strike Law 45 (similar to the New York State Taylor law).

The CODEMI (Commitment, Democracy, Militancy) caucus advocated disaffiliation from the AFT as one strategy in order to stench bureaucracy and corruption. For years, CODEMI's platform:

* linked the teachers' needs as workers to the students' rights to a quality education

* promoted rank and file participation internally

* supported democratizing the schools' administrative functioning

* advocated for the right to strike

* worked to build labor and community solidarity around critical quality of life issues on the island.

Rafael Felciano, a respected High School physics teacher, an activist in the 60 year battle to stop the US Navy's bombing of Vieques PR, a socialist and supporter of PR independence, led CODEMI in its 2003 victory over AFT-backed slates. In September 2004, the FMPR Delegate Assembly voted to disaffiliate from the AFT.

Since the CODEMI Electoral Victory, the FMPR has:

* played a leading role in mobilizing teachers in response to the May 2006 abuse of the government shut down where the government closed down schools and public services to furlough public employees to alleviate the fiscal bankruptcy caused by corporate excesses (and their legal loopholes) and the basic non-sustainability of a persistent colonial governance

* developed a detailed critique of NCLB and promotes boycotting the initiative. It advocates that parents opt out of mandated standardized testing.

* paid officers according to their current teacher job title (averages $25,000/year). In contrast, the president of the UFT (NYC's AFT affiliate), Randi Weingarten, is paid over $250,000 annually.

* ensured that one out of sixteen dues dollars is provided to the local autonomous FMPR districts for their organizing efforts and democratic functioning

* organized and built grass roots alliances among teachers, parents, students and communities, with a call for control over the schools. As a result, 2 or 3 "wildcat" shut-downs occur daily to demand relief from awful conditions (e.g. plumbing problems, lack of toilet facilities, overcrowding, large class size, flooding, asbestos). Robust media coverage has effectively highlighted and launched these "local issues" into national political concerns, resulting in remedial government action.

* united with other unions, parents and community organizations, and engaged in broader actions against the onslaught of cutbacks threatened by the government’s fiscal and political bankruptcy.

* Mobilized routinely, via pickets and other visible protests, to galvanize its members and the public against harmful government policies, recognizing that lobbying is only one tactic in the struggle for better conditions.

* demanded that corporations and the rich be taxed to pay for the fiscal crisis.

* campaigned to reduce class sizes (15 for primary grades, 20 for middle and high school)

* fought for increases in wages and benefits with retirement eligibility after 25 years of service.

The AFT Collaborates With The PR Government-Employer
To Destabilize The FMPR

Prior to and after the 2003 election, in violation of both AFT and FMPR constitutions, the AFT colluded with the teacher' employer, the Puerto Rican government, and select FMPR members, to undermine the new leadership and to manipulate and then sabotage the democratic vote to split from the AFT. After attempts to co-opt Feliciano with offers of an AFT Vice Presidency and an enormous salary increase failed (he currently earns $27,600 annually plus food and travel expenses related to his position), the AFT spent millions of members' dues on hiring lawyers and staff to work with the Governor's office to "get rid of" Feliciano and the new FMPR leadership -- dues money that should have gone toward organizing and programs on the island. These efforts jeopardized FMPR and the interests of all of its members.

Even today, as unions on the island engage in a difficult yet militant response to the Puerto Rican government's attempts to further burden workers with higher taxes, elimination of work benefits, service cutbacks, layoffs, increased workloads and privatization, the AFT continues its attempts to strangle the FMPR, both politically and financially. It continues to harass FMPR members for alleged back dues, ironically spending more on this legal battle than the amount of dues it illegitimately claims it is owed!