For decades, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, supplied power to the island as a government-owned service. In 2021 privatization began with the offloading of transmission and distribution to LUMA. Power workers were given the choice of working for LUMA or transferring to a new government job.
Edith Soto, posing in front of the Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, worked in customer service for PREPA for 14 years before its dissolution. Now, she’s 41 years old and a secretary for the natural resources department. “We didn’t believe in the private sector,” she said. “We believe in change.”