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CNN:: Strike protests job cuts in Puerto Rico
by Eguie
Strike protests job cuts in Puerto Rico
Story Highlights
NEW: Confrontations between police, students blocking highway lessen after rally
Union leaders claim large turnout for protest against nearly 17,000 layoffs
Thousands of strikers march at rally in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Job cuts ordered to help close $3.2 billion budget gap amid high unemployment
(CNN) -- Confrontations between Puerto Rican police and students blocking a highway started to lessen late Thursday afternoon after a rally protesting government budget cuts that will lead to the elimination of nearly 17,000 jobs.
Puerto Rican workers and their supporters held an islandwide strike Thursday, capped off by the noon rally at the Plaza las Americas mall. Organizers said at least 100,000 people took part in the rally and thousands more stayed home from work. Federico Torres Montalvo, a Puerto Rican workers' union leader, said 200,000 people attended the rally. There was no independent verification of the turnout.
The rally ended around 2:30 p.m., but students refused to leave a highway where they had blocked traffic, the primerahora.com news outlet said. Police stepped up their presence. The students confronted police and burned a tire, but there were no reports of violence or arrests.
Some students eventually relented and started to move away. Others stayed where they had occupied the road.
Negotiations between police and the students continued late into the afternoon. Methodist Bishop Juan Vera, a strike leader who had spoken at the rally, was one of the lead negotiators.
Earlier, Víctor Villalba, president of the Puerto Rican Federation of Workers, lauded the large turnout and criticized government efforts at privatization.
"They will have to pass over the bodies of thousands and thousands of Puerto Ricans before turning the government over to private businesses," Villalba told the crowd.
Aida Diaz, president of the teachers' union, also praised the large turnout.
"Today we said, "Present.' Tomorrow we will say, 'Present,' because teaching is by the public, for the public," she said.
University students, teachers and clergy leaders also joined the stoppage.
"We can feel how the soul of a whole people vibrates," Vera said.
At least six demonstrators required medical attention for dehydration and elevated blood pressure as a result of the heat and sun, the primerahora Web site reported. One woman was taken away in an ambulance.
Jose Rivera Santana and several other organizers said Thursday's protest was bigger than a 2001 rally against the U.S. Navy target practice bombing of the island of Vieques, off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. The Navy ended the target practice in 2003.
Some labor leaders, including truckers' union head Victor Rodriguez, were already calling the strike a success late Thursday morning.
Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuño said Thursday morning that he expected no problems from the protests.
"Everyone has the right to express themselves, and we will guarantee that right," he told CNN affiliate WAPA TV. "The important thing is that we do it with respect, that we do it with order and that we understand that each of our rights ends where the other person's begins."
News media reported a heavy police presence but no major incidents at the protest sites. Police and some University of Puerto Rico students -- several of them wearing hoods -- started shoving each other at the mall before the noon rally, but no arrests were reported, said primerahora.com, which was blogging a live update of the day's events.
The mall's windows and doors were boarded up with plywood. The mall has 3,000 employees and 300 stores, restaurants and banks, making it the Caribbean's largest. It was closed Thursday.
Fortuño ordered nearly 17,000 layoffs in March to help close a $3.2 billion budget gap. The public-sector job cuts are scheduled to take effect in November.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Puerto Rico's unemployment rate exceeds 15 percent. Some analysts expect the layoffs to push that rate to at least 17 percent.
The governor's office issued a news statement Thursday afternoon pointing out that Puerto Rico's economic downturn started in 2005, three years before the recession hit the U.S. mainland.
According to the news release, about 70 percent of Puerto Rico's budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits for government employees. The U.S. protectorate, the release says, has more government employees in proportion to population than any state. And 43 of the nation's 50 states have implemented some form of payroll reduction, hiring freeze or layoffs, the release says.
The government has cut 10 percent in operating expenses such as official vehicles, cell phones and credit cards, and has instituted 10 percent pay cuts for the governor and agency heads through next year, the announcement says.
Escrito desde Oct 15, 2009, 6:02 PM de la dirección IP 66.50.89.107