The UIA approves a strike vote amid the drought; it is not an immediate walkout

On August 22, 2026, Primera Hora reports that the membership of the Unión Independiente Auténtica, which represents Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority employees, approved this Saturday a strike vote after rejecting the employer's last economic offer on the Classification and Compensation Plan. The approval, the outlet clarifies, does not mean a strike starts at once. They will have to hold a next assembly to take determinations. They did so at Coliseo Manuel Petaca Iguina Reyes, in Arecibo. Primera Hora does not publish in this piece the offer's dollar per hour or the demand's. The 11.74 that El Nuevo Día will put on the 23rd is not pasted here.

Union members heard president José E. Cajigas Romero's report on the negotiation and the terms of the last offer. In questions and answers, they expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal and with the treatment. Members said they felt humiliated and called the offer insufficient against years of wage claims. They also spoke of inequality between what corporation employees receive and the resources going to firms and contracted staff. Some noted that AAA employees have had to correct or complete contractors' work. After the report, the offer was rejected by voice. A strike-vote motion arose, approved the same way.

José E. Cajigas Romero said the Executive Committee negotiated, presented proposals, and brought the information for the membership to decide. Workers, he added, see the resources of outside contracting every day. If there are resources to pay that contracting, he said, there has to be will for wage justice. He cited findings of the Office of the Comptroller: contracted staff performed functions similar to regular Classification Plan posts; a significant share did not require specialized expertise; the AAA had not documented an economic convenience analysis; in one case, the cost of a contracted resource considerably exceeded the range of a comparable post. Primera Hora does not put the number of that case in this note. It is not invented.

On August 11, El Vocero covered the UIA pressing with a 24-hour stoppage if there were no offers. Five days earlier, El Nuevo Día had related Héctor Del Río Jiménez's resignation. The 22nd is the vote, not the stoppage. On the 23rd, El Nuevo Día covers Jean Peña Payano saying the vote must not cut the water, with the 11.74 versus 12.50 scale. That is another dispatch. This one leaves the vote, Arecibo, and the second assembly.

The UIA will notify management of the extraordinary assembly's determinations. The goal, it reiterated, remains a Classification and Compensation Plan that does wage justice. There is no walkout date here. There is a vote and an announcement of meeting again. A reader who wants the statement has the Primera Hora URL at the foot.

Source: Primera Hora. https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/notas/aprueban-voto-de-huelga-empleados-de-la-aaa-en-medio-de-la-emergencia-por-la-sequia/