WNU #963: Teacher Struggles in Puerto Rico, Mexico

Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #963, October 12, 2008

1. Puerto Rico: Teachers Vote on Union
2. Mexico: Cops Repress Teacher Demos
3. Haiti: DR Sends Aid, Deports Workers
4. Latin America: More Shocks From Global Crisis
5. Links to alternative sources on: Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, US policy

ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate [at] gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com

*1. Puerto Rico: Teachers Vote on Union
As of Oct. 7 Puerto Rico's teachers had been voting for a week on whether the Puerto Rican Teachers Union (SPM) should represent them. The island's 40,000 teachers were previously represented by the 42-year-old Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), but the Labor Relations Commission excluded the FMPR from running in the new election, even though 12,000 teachers had already endorsed the union as their bargaining agent. Earlier this year Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's administration withdrew the union's certification because of its refusal to accept a ban on strikes by public employees in Law 45. The FMPR mounted a militant 10-day in late February and early March over wages, classroom size and health issues, winning several key demands. [...]


Read the full Update:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2008/10/update-963-teacher-struggles-in-puerto.html