The Free Federation of Workers (FLT): Puerto Rican Labor Organizing (1899-1945)

The Puerto Rican labor movement emerged at the intersection of colonial exploitation and working-class resistance — organizing against conditions that colonialism had created.

Founding: The FLT was founded in 1899, immediately after the U.S. takeover. Its leader, Santiago Iglesias Pantín, had been imprisoned by Spain for labor organizing. The FLT affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) — a strategic choice that gave Puerto Rican workers connection to the mainland labor movement but also aligned them with the AFL's racial and colonial politics.

Key Industries:
- Sugar: The most exploited sector. Sugar workers labored 12-16 hour days during the zafra (harvest season), earning wages that could not sustain their families. Strikes in 1905, 1915, 1934, and 1942 were among the largest labor actions in Caribbean history.
- Tobacco: Tobacco strippers (despalilladoras), mostly women, organized in cigar factories where one worker would read aloud while others worked — creating a tradition of political education through labor.
- Needlework: The garment industry employed thousands of women in their homes at piece-rate wages — some of the lowest pay in the Western Hemisphere.

Major Strikes:
- 1905 Sugar Strike: One of the first major agricultural strikes under American rule
- 1915 Sugar Strike: Workers demanding higher wages and shorter hours, violently suppressed
- 1934 Sugar Strike: Island-wide strike involving tens of thousands of workers. Nationalists and socialists cooperated. The strike was ultimately broken by the National Guard.
- 1942 Sugar Strike: During WWII, workers struck despite wartime restrictions

Colonial Complications:
- American sugar corporations used colonial authority to suppress strikes
- The colonial government often sided with American corporations against Puerto Rican workers
- Workers who organized faced both corporate retaliation and political persecution
- The AFL affiliation brought resources but also mainland union politics that didn't always serve Puerto Rican workers' interests
- Labor organizing was intertwined with the independence movement: many labor leaders also supported self-determination

Legacy: The FLT and its successor organizations established a tradition of labor militancy that influenced Puerto Rican politics for decades. Santiago Iglesias Pantín, despite his accommodationist politics, built institutional capacity for worker organizing. The women tobacco strippers and needleworkers demonstrated that Puerto Rican women were central to both labor and political struggle.