SAN JUAN – The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico passed a controversial fiscal emergency bill despite the staunch opposition of some public employee unions.The bill passed Friday with a vote of 26-19 with two abstentions.
The Utier union representing electrical industry and irrigation workers staged a protest, which briefly turned violent, outside the legislative building.
However, popular support for anti-austerity protests has not been widespread limited due in part to agreements reached between the island’s government and some of the public-sector unions.
Some Puerto Ricans also see in the protests an attempt by the unions to shield themselves from spending cuts that many deem necessary if the U.S. commonwealth is to emerge from more than seven years of recession.
The Fiscal Sustainability Act, among other things, would prohibit workers from cashing in on unused sick days, reduce Christmas bonuses to workers to $600 and freeze salaries.
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has argued that the only way for employees of the heavily indebted Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or AEE, to keep their benefits would be to raise electricity rates or lay off a portion of its staff.
Many other public agencies and corporations also simply lack the funds to operate and therefore it is necessary to adjust their collective bargaining agreements, according to the governor.
The bill will next go the Senate of Puerto Rico, although some union leaders have urged the upper house’s president, Eduardo Bhatia, to not let it come up for debate and instead promote a measure to restructure the island’s hefty public debt load of more than $73 billion.
Puerto Rico’s debt was downgraded to junk status by the Big Three credit rating agencies – Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch – earlier this year.
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