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Corrections Officers in Puerto Rico Overwhelmingly Choose SPU

Members of ACU Organizing Committee in Puerto Rico
Members of the ACU organizing committee and
volunteer member organizers from SPU celebrate
their victory after Alianza Correccional Unida/SPU
was declared the winner.
Photo Credit: Brenda Vargas
By a more than 3-to-1 margin, corrections officers on this island chose Alianza Correccional Unida (ACU)/Servidores Públicos Unidos (SPU)/AFSCME Council 95 as their union. The long-awaited election, which was completed on March 14, resulted in 2,447 votes for SPU and only 692 for Federación de Oficiales de Custodias (FOC), a rival union comprised mostly of supervisory officers.

With this victory, more than 6,400 corrections officers in all 46 corrections facilities now have a voice at work with AFSCME Corrections United (ACU).

"This is even better than the election we won three years ago," says ACU Local 3500 President Maria Mauras during a celebration following the election triumph. "Corrections workers have always wanted to be part of ACU, and their strong desire to have a union kept our hopes alive."

The Puerto Rico Public Employees Relations Board voided a 2002 election that SPU won by a 2-to-1 margin — based on an alleged incident in a single polling area. Instead of rescheduling a vote in the "contaminated" area only, the board ordered one for the entire island. An election rescheduled within six months was delayed even further when FOC dragged SPU into a court battle, challenging its right to organize public-sector workers. Although the courts eventually ruled in SPU's favor, paving the way for a new election, three years passed.

"Now that we have been vindicated, we can look forward to bargaining for a first contract," adds Mauras. "It's about time our COs, who have been abused by management, get the recognition and respect they deserve."

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