INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
ICFTU OnLine
156/980702/DD
Brussels July 2 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): The
ICFTU has written to PuertoRican
Governor Pedro Rossello condemning police violence during last
week's
strike by telephone workers over the sale of Puerto Rico's state
telephone company to private ownership.
On June 18, after the decision by the Puerto Rico government
to sell the
telephone company to a consortium led by U.S.-based GTE, the unions
within the company began an indefinite strike.
Since June 18, the Puerto Rico Police have deployed hundreds
of armed
police officers against the strikers who are picketing outside
the
Puerto Rico Telephone Company. Some of the strikers have been
beaten
unconscious in police action which has been described by the Puerto
Rican Commission on Civil Rights as using "excessive force".
Unions have
collected over $100,000 in donations from a sympathetic public
which
opposes the privatisation of the phone company.
On June 28, delegates from trade unions and community organisations
in
the Greater Committee of Labor Organizations, which represents
tens of
thousands of workers voted for a national strike starting next
Tuesday,
July 7. This will broaden strike action into one involving workers
in
electrical, public transport, water and sewerage and other industries.
The unions hope that wider strike action will put pressure on
Governor
Rosello either to halt the sale or to hold a referendum on the
issue.
In the letter to Governor Rosello ICFTU General Secretary Bill
Jordan
urges the governor to take measures to guarantee that the police
will
not continue to violate human and trade union rights, and will
allow the
trade unions to operate in accordance with the Constitution of
Puerto
Rico, and according to international labour standards to which
the
government is a signatory.
For further information, please contact the ICFTU Press Office
on: 322
224 0212 or visit our website at: http://www.icftu.org