Servidores Públicos Unidos de Puerto Rico, Concilio 95 AFSCME (SPUPR C95), a union representing more than 10,000 central government employees, is asking Puerto Rico’s Senate to stop House Bill 1505. The union says the bill, approved by the House of Representatives, undermines Law No. 379 of 1948, which sets the workday on the island, and opens the door to workdays beyond eight hours a day and 40 hours a week without proper compensation.
SPUPR President Jessica Martínez Santos said the measure is not a technical amendment but a direct blow to labor protections won over decades. She criticized its approval without public hearings, without hearing those affected and without transparency. She said the eight-hour day is a right protected by Article II, Section 16 of the Constitution.
Martínez noted that the United States is seriously discussing shortening the work week without cutting pay, and that the Puerto Rico House itself has a bill, PC 1459, along those lines. She questioned how a bill facilitating workdays of up to ten hours without overtime pay could be approved. She said extended workdays harm physical and mental health, cut rest time, endanger workplace safety and strain family life.
The union also condemned the House Labor Committee, saying its handling of the bill responds to employer interests rather than workers’. Martínez Santos said the eight-hour day is not negotiable.