AFT Wins Right To Bargain For Puerto Rican Teachers

By Ann Bradley

After a hard-fought campaign, the Puerto Rican affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers has won the right to represent the American commonwealth’s teachers in collective bargaining.

The election this month marked the first time that teachers in Puerto Rico have been permitted to vote for union representation, under a new commonwealth law that allows public employees to bargain.

It also represented the biggest contest between the United States’ two national teachers’ unions since they began working toward a possible merger...