Edwin Morales, FMPR:
Just recently a law was approved in Puerto Rico that stopped the privatization of the public sector retirement systems and increases the percentage that government will contribute for a period of 10 years. This represents a huge victory in the struggle against this system's privatization.
The government's original plans were to sell off our portfolio of loans, to sell off that building and to fuse the system of central retirement and the one of teachers in order to be able to then rip off billions of our dollars. The government would then use our sacked funds to finance their drives to privatize with Project 1370 and Governor Fortuño's Reorganization Plan #4.
The struggle that the FMPR waged included:
a petition drive with signatures from across the island-nation
a work-stoppage during the public hearings for this privatization project
the August 26, 2010 national FMPR teachers' work-stoppage
a day of civil disobedience inside the retirement system's offices (watch video)
We are more than happy because, even though a crisis prevails, our success here represents an increase in the social wage of our teachers. It is important for victories like his be shared widely so other workers everywhere can see that, with determination and struggle, we can win and stop the plans of the wealthy class.
Here is a link to the civil disobedience that our FMPR organized last year in the Retirement Offices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
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