By Mandy Liles

March 4, 1999 Citizens may continue to struggle with the closing sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC). The newly signed deal places the phone company in the hands of private owners, causing growing concern among the public. The government of the U.S. Commonwealth first announced in April 1997 that it wanted to sell the PRTC. The government has owned the telephone company since 1974, which eliminated competition in the colony with a population of three million.

The sale provides a controversy for two sides. The government says that because of the sale, less money will have to be split from taxes and can be provided in other areas. The public of Puerto Rico may be worried that a move from government-owned to privately owned would cause downsizing and unemployment. Irma Casey, a professor of Hispanic Studies at Marist College, said people living on such a small island depend on jobs. She currently lives in the USA, but has frequent contact with her family and friends in her native area of Puerto Rico. "The government has provided a stable, secure environment with little competition and a chance for the people to continue their livelihood," said Casey. Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Rossello signed the deal, making the sale final on Tuesday, March 2.

This is one of the steps in his scheme to privatize several of Puerto Rico's services. The sale of the phone company has been his central goal in his plans to privatize everything from utilities to health care. He has sold hotels, a shipping company, hospitals, and is proposing a school voucher program and cutting funding to the University of Puerto Rico. The sale will immediately eliminate 2,700 jobs and raise rates of the service. Rossello said proceeds from the sale will be invested in infrastructure projects on the Caribbean island, primarily drinking water systems, and used to shore up its ailing state employee pension funds.

Casey said the workers of Puerto Rico are unionized and are provided a stable salary under government ownership, which could be in jeopardy with privatization. "The government isn't looking to make money when they own a company. When a private owner steps in, the company is downsized because they want to make profit," said Casey. She is not the only one who shares this concern.

On June 18, about 6,400 unionized workers went on strike, protesting the sale of the PRTC. Two unions-- the Independent Union of Telephone Workers (UIE) and Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers (HIETEL) led the strike. Employees of PRTC and the unions were joined by other services who attempted to stop the functioning of the island. The strikers cut off 345,000 of the company's clients and disrupted the service of one-third of Puerto Rico's 888 automated teller machines. There were mass marches and rallies led by the workers in the strike that lasted for 41 days.

The protest tied up roads, airports and government agencies and forced many businesses to close. The strikers carried signs accusing Rossello of being a fascist, spelling his name with two swastikas. The public continued to protest the phone sale by hitting one of the partners to the GTE-led consortium in the sale of the PRTC. In July, about 200 union members gathered outside of the Manhattan branch of Banco Popular. The members protested the planned purchase of the phone company, saying that it would jeopardize the national heritage of Puerto Rico. Dino Hazell of The Boston Globe reported the protestors plea for their island.

The crowd shouted, "Hey, Banco Popular, Puerto Rico's not for sale." The quality of telephone service is up in the air, along with employment. The service has been filled with static or has not functioning from time to time. Casey says the service was not in good condition before the government purchased the company and still remains to fluctuate between good and bad. Casey said she experiences the poor quality when she calls her relatives in Puerto Rico. She says that without good working telephone service, people can run into some real problems because they are not able to contact others. Communication can be limited. "I triedcalling my aunt for awhile, but her phone was out of service.

I knew she was there alone in bad weather and I was very worried about her," said Casey. There has been little discussion of the future quality of the phone service since the sale of the PRTC. The government and the new owners have not commented on improvements that could be made with the shift in money, which concerns the public of the island. With approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), GTE purchased the government-owned Puerto Rico Telephone Company for $2 billion.

The Puerto Rico government approved the transaction last July, calling for GTE to pay $444 million for 50 percent and a $1.5 million dividend to be granted to the Puerto Rico government. GTE is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies with 1998 revenues of more than $25 billion. The deal creates a new holding company called Telecommunicaciones de Puerto Rico (TELPRI) and makes GTE one of the leading providers of integrated telecommunications services.