Posted on 10/13/2009 7:28:44 AM PDT by rrstar96
The Coalición Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico’s plans for Thursday’s looming general strike began to take shape Monday as it claimed initial victories in its protest against the dismissal of more than 16,000 government workers: The postponing of the Public-Private Partnership Authority conference and the shuttering of the University of Puerto Rico system for the full week.
The PPP conference had been slated for Oct. 15-16 at the Convention Center to showcase investment opportunities for specific local projects. The Fortuño administration is making a push for PPPs to undertake much-needed infrastructure projects and repairs that the government simply cannot afford. The conference will likely be held later this month.
The Coalición Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico is made up of labor, religious and civic organizations.
Lutheran Church Bishop Felipe Lozada said the coalition would rally along Roosevelt Avenue between the Plaza Las Américas shopping center and Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Hato Rey.
Puerto Rico Workers Federation President José Rodríguez Báez said multiple marches would be launched from different points in the metropolitan area and would converge near Plaza las Américas. Groups of marchers would set out from points including the Minillas Government Center in Santurce, the Río Piedras Medical Center, Chardón Street, the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, UPR Río Piedras, Luis Muñoz Marín Park and the Golden Mile.
Lozada said the aim is not to cripple business at Plaza las Américas, but to demand the reversal of the more 16,000 government worker layoffs under Law 7 announced by the Fortuño administration last month.
Gov. Luis Fortuño has said the right to demonstrate will be protected but that authorities will not allow essential services to be paralyzed.
“From the street, we call the people into the streets so our people are respected,” Rodríguez said in a press conference.
Asked what union leaders planned for after the general strike, Rodríguez said: “The island is becoming ungovernable and those who don’t want to hear are going to have to listen … if there are no changes after Oct. 15, we are going to come out stronger.”
Other unions aim to cripple business at Plaza las Américas
In related news, a separate coalition of labor groups said it will aim to paralyze economic activity around Plaza las Américas as part of the general strike convened for Thursday.
The protest by the Coordinadora Sindical and the Frente Amplio de Solidaridad y Lucha aims to bring the commercial hub around the Caribbean’s largest shopping center to a halt.
Luis Pedraza Leduc, spokesman for the Coordinadora Sindical, confirmed that the aim of the protest is to cripple business. The demonstration is apparently separate from the protests being organized by the Coalición Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico.
“There will not be any economic activity there and that is what we are going to make happen,” Leduc said in a press conference.
He said protesters are going to gather at 9 a.m. Thursday outside busy retail outlets including Kmart, Office Max, Toys R Us and others.
Leduc said the Fonalledas family, which owns Plaza las Américas, and Banco Popular President Richard Carrión, who was a member of Gov. Luis Fortuño’s Fiscal & Economic Reconstruction Advisory Council, must be made to feel the claims of the fired government workers.
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This isn’t exercising the right to protest peacefully. This is intimidation.
Are taxi drivers also on strike? I’m arriving in November with my son and need to take a cab from the airport to my Abuela’s apartment in Puerta de Tierra...
The previous two administrations were very tolerant about “civil” desobedience. They even encouraged it. This administration is different. They’re emphasizing that people have a right to air their grievances, but that is a limited right when it conflicts with other people’s rights.
I don’t think that this will extend into November, but taxi drivers are near starvation because of the worst tourism year in decades so I think they will not stop working.
If they do, Freepmail me and I’ll give you a ride, ha!
As the saying goes, my rights begin where yours end. That’s the message the fatcat union bosses should hear from responsible Puerto Ricans who refuse to be bullied.
Are there any plans by the unions to disrupt public transportation on Thursday? They are certainly hellbent on paralyzing everyday activity in the island, at least the San Juan metropolitan area.
FIDEL CASTRO ! ! ! !
There are no plans to disrupt public transportation. In fact, yesterday protesters in front of the UPR were trying to disrupt traffic, but were letting public buses through.
As far as paralyzing everyday activity on the island, they might succeed in pockets here and there for a few hours, but they don’t have the bodies to do much more.
After the Vieques fiasco, people are tired of this crap. As long as we deny them the momentum they had back then, we should be okay.
Gracias...
I do have a lady taxi driver (who works for Rochdale) whom I always contact prior to leaving Maryland, and she picks me up all the time. She also knows that my routine is stopping at the grocery store in Isla Verde prior to getting to my Abuela’s house, and she’ll wait for me to get a few items and then drop me off.
I can always call my father, but I can’t count on him most of the time because he’s holed up in court or at the radio station, and my stepmom teaches — so I’d much rather take a cab and not inconvenience anyone, since my arrivals are always during week days.
If you think the economic situation in Puerto Rico is precarious, just have American businesses leave the island.
Many of them already have, hence the huge unemployment numbers on the island.
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