Service & Solidarity Spotlight: AFSCME Corrections Members in Puerto Rico Win Workplace Improvements After Tragedy

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

After corrections officer Pedro Joel Rodriguez Mateo was killed by an inmate in 2019, corrections staff raised their voices in protest. At first, there were just four protesters in front of the prison, and they were dismissed. More protesters quickly joined; the numbers climbed steadily until 800 people turned out. They took to the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and protested at the Capitol.

Finally, their demands for greater safety, and better pay, equipment and working conditions were taken seriously. By standing together and using their voices in union, the corrections staff won a 15% salary increase, a $500 bonus, new uniforms, better safety equipment, buses to transport the inmates and respect.

“This is a job where you know you are going in fine, but you don’t know how or if you’re going to come out,” said Travieso Miranda, a member of SPUPR/AFSCME Council 95 who works at the Sargento Pedro Joel Rodriguez Mateo Correctional Complex in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Mateo’s death was preventable, Miranda said. The complex was renamed in Mateo’s honor.

“Everyone is listening to us. Wherever we go, they respect us. All we want is to be able to do our job,” said Miranda. “We do it from the heart because we like it. But we also want to have better working conditions, a better salary and better benefits. We want to continue to achieve more each day, each year.”