SAN JUAN: A massive one day strike against privatisation shook the United States' Caribbean colony of Puerto Rico on October 1st. Almost 100,000 demonstrators (from a population of only 3.7 million) gathered in front of the Capitol building. This was the largest mobilisation in the history of the island, and the most enthusiastic.
The action was supported by all three labour federations on the island. It closed most public schools and the University of Puerto Rico, while spurring mass absenteeism in many other public sector institutions. Some private businesses closed and San Juan's major avenues were paralysed by the endless caravans of cars and trucks transporting demonstrators. As in a similar situation in 1990, the upsurge in organisation and militancy was provoked by the attempt to privatise the Puerto Rico Telephone Company.
The PRTC is a profitable concern. It holds a monopoly on local telephone services and nets US$100 million in yearly profits. This subsidises other government operations, such as the public radio and TV stations. There is a solid and widespread feeling that state-owned telecom enterprises can be more efficient than the private sector. Hardly anyone who remembers the pre-nationalisation service of ITT [a US telecommunications multinational, Eds] supports privatisation. The market price of PRTC is US$3.2 billion. It could only be bought by a major telecommunications multinational. So the struggle against the privatisation of PRTC thus brings together working class, consumer and national aspirations in a mixture that has twice proven to be highly flammable. The main slogan of the campaign, Puerto Rico ne se vende, means both that 'Puerto Rico is not for sale' and 'Puerto Rico cannot be bought off'.
The main challenge is to keep the existing organising efforts going. In 1990 the Paro Nacional, combined with the recession, did prevent the privatisation of the PRTC. But then there followed a period of demobilisation. The government hopes that the situation will turn out similarly. It is our task, say the anti-privatisation militants of the Comite Amplio, to prove them wrong.
* This article is an abridged version of a longer one which appeared in the November 1997 edition of International Viewpoint. The author is a member of the Puerto Rican section of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.
Editors' note: the Puerto Rican response to privatisation makes one wonder why the official union leaders here in Australia have remained silent on the question of the partial privatisation of Telstra. Perhaps we should import some Puerto Ricans to show them how it's done!