Teachers and Firefighters Go on Strike in Puerto Rico

Thousands of teachers and hundreds of firefighters are demanding a fair salary and retirement.

Teachers and firefighters are striking in Puerto Rico to protest the adverse effects of the island’s Debt Adjustment Plan (DAP).

In the teachers’ case, the Legislature had previously agreed to a monthly increase of $1,000 dollars, but the Fiscal Oversight Board (La Junta) rejected it. Instead, the DAP, confirmed by federal district judge Laura Taylor Swain on Jan. 18, includes a salary increase of approximately $470 for teachers.

Teachers are also demanding the government guarantee that there will be no cuts to their pensions.

On Monday, 4,429 teachers in Puerto Rico didn’t report to work. According to the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, the strike continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, with teachers protesting at various school sites.

Mercedes Martínez Padilla, president of the Federación, told Floricua that the protests will continue until the government comes up with a solution to provide fair wages and a respectable retirement plan.

Firefighters are striking for the same reasons. The strike or “red flu” was supposed to begin on Wednesday, el Día de la Candelaria, but some got started on Tuesday.

More than 1,460 firefighters work in 96 stations around Puerto Rico. The island is one of the US jurisdictions with the lowest salaries for firefighters, an annual average of $27,800. In the US, the average salary for a firefighter is $56,360.

Firefighter who are just starting out earn approximately $1,500 a month, which works out to $18,000 a year. The DAP has authorized an increase of $1,500 per year for firefighters, which comes to $125 per month.