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Late Breaking News |
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| Date: July 19, 1998 5:22 pm Contact: American Federation of Teachers Renan Soto Soto, 504-524-8200 or 787-766-1818 |
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Latest News Releases
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American Federation of Teachers Decries Efforts to Undermine Public Services in Puerto Rico | ||
| NEW ORLEANS - July 19 - The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) today
decried the sweeping efforts of the government of Puerto Rico to privatize public
services. In a policy resolution adopted at the AFT's biennial convention, the more than 3,500 delegates representing nearly 1 million members lent their support to the Federacion de Maestros (FMPR), striking telephone workers, and the people of Puerto Rico in their efforts to preserve quality public services. Renan Soto Soto, president of the FMPR, an AFT affiliate, said the unanimous vote in support of the people of Puerto Rico would add greater pressure on the government to "abandon its plan for wholesale privatization of public services." "The delegates to this convention recognize that the government's efforts to privatize the phone company, public schools, water and electrical services, higher education and more are being done with little or no regard to the effect on the quality of services provided or the effect these changes will have on citizens who depend on these services," Soto continued. Telephone workers have been on strike over a month. FMPR, along with other unions, actively supported last week's historic two-day, island-wide work stoppage to protest the move to sell the phone system. Plans have been announced to finance a K-12 voucher program and to extend privatization to regional colleges, health care and other services upon which citizens rely. The AFT's resolution extended the full support of the AFT to "the members of the Federacion, the telephone workers and the people of Puerto Rico in their efforts to preserve quality public services, protect public sector jobs and promote an honest and free dialogue on these important issues." ------ The FMPR is an affiliate of the 985,000-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. -0- |
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