Puerto Rico to increase teachers’ salaries by $1K a month

By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor has announced that all public school teachers will receive a temporary $1,000 monthly salary increase starting in July and promised to make it permanent. Monday’s move comes just days after 70% of teachers left their classrooms and joined a protest to demand higher wages, better pensions and improved working conditions. Another protest is scheduled for Wednesday. Víctor Bonilla, president of the Puerto Rico Teachers’ Association, said they had been waiting years for that moment. The association and others had rejected a smaller increase recently approved by a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances and the U.S. territory’s exit from bankruptcy.