For Immediate Release: July 31, 2024
Contact: Cheyenne Schoen, cschoen@usw.org, (412) 562-2446
PUERTO RICO – Nearly 500 workers at Genera PR today voted to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union.
The newly unionized workers serve as technicians, electricians, field operators, instrumentalists, maintenance workers, and more in 17 locations across Puerto Rico. Genera PR is an independently managed subsidiary of the New York-based energy company New Fortress, Inc., which generates electricity for the entire island.
“This is a historic moment for not only the USW but also our new members at Genera PR,” said USW District 4 Director David Wasiura. “This victory has significant implications for electricity generation in Puerto Rico as well as our ability to hold companies that seek to enrich themselves by privatizing public services to account.”
Puerto Rico began privatizing the island’s power generation in 2017 after the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) declared bankruptcy. Genera PR officially took over for the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) on July 1, 2023. Genera refused to recognize any of the unions that represented workers at AEE.
“The transition to the private sector left us without the protection of a collective bargaining agreement,” said Stephany Resto Sierra, an electrician at the Genera PR San Juan plant. “Winning our union was a priority because uncertainty reigned here previously. Now, through our union, we’ll be able to improve our working conditions and have a say in the decisions that affect us. We now call on Genera PR to sit down with us and swiftly negotiate a fair first contract.”
“Working in the private sector brings new challenges, and the surest way for us to improve our working conditions and defend our labor rights was through securing union representation,” said Oscar Roque, a worker at Genera PR’s Palo Seco plant. “We trust that future collective bargaining will be done in good faith and for the benefit of all parties.”
The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.
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