San Juan, Puerto Rico — On Oct. 20, one month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the secretary of AFSCME Local 3800, Brad Sigal, was in San Juan to bring a donation of money and medicines to the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR, the union's initials in Spanish).
The donations came from AFSCME Locals 3800, 3937, 2822 and many individuals in Minnesota. At the FMPR's San Juan office, Sigal presented the donations to the teacher's union president Mercedes Martinez. The donations will be used in the FMPR's post-hurricane work brigades in hard-hit communities.
A month after the hurricane, the majority of Puerto Ricans still have no electricity or water and schools have not reopened. The U.S. government's flagrantly inadequate relief and reconstruction efforts have been punctuated by President Trump's racist and insulting comments and actions in reference to Puerto Rico.
