PROTEST REPRESSION AGAINST PUERTO RICAN TEACHERS

WHEREAS, following two years of inconclusive contract negotiations with an intransigent Department of Education, including the lockout of teachers and students in May 2006, teachers in Puerto Rico voted in September 2007 to authorize a strike for decent professional conditions and compensation and quality education and learning environments for the families and children they serve; and

WHEREAS, five months later the government still had failed to come to an agreement that addressed the critical issues of class size, privatization, defunding of public education, unsafe and hazardous buildings, and inadequate compensation, leaving the teachers no alternative but to go out on strike in support of their just and reasonable demands; and

WHEREAS, 14 Utuado teachers were arrested, while others were beaten by police, and 17 teachers who were suspended last October for objecting to a unilateral change in curriculum remain suspended without pay or health insurance:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers express its solidarity with the striking teachers of Puerto Rico; that the American Federation of Teachers condemn the use of police repression and violence against striking teachers; that the American Federation of Teachers demand that the charges against the individual teachers be dropped and that the teachers be restored to their jobs; and that the AFT executive council consider making a humanitarian contribution directly to the suspended teachers.