Union workers and activists come together to call on lawmakers to assist Puerto Rico with its financial crisis.
The VAMOS4PR coalition hosted a teach-in conference Saturday at the offices of 32BJ SEIU in Midtown.
Its goal was to raise awareness about the U.S. territory's economic woes and get New Yorkers with ties to the island motivated to put pressure on Congress.
Earlier this month, Puerto Rico's government defaulted on a $422 million debt payment and is expected to do the same with $2 billion due in July.
"We need to have a common solution in which corporations pay their fair share of taxes and the debt is not paid at the expense of working families," said President of 32BJ Hector Figueroa.
"I think people know that Congress is not really presenting a viable option so there's a lot of energy around finding other things that might be good for Puerto Rico," said Julio Lopez Varona, an organizer with Make the Road Action Fund. "For example, executive action, Federal Reserve. We want to be creative. We want to make sure that we help Puerto Rico."
The island is home to nearly 3.5 million people.
Last year, about 121,000 people moved from Puerto Rico to others parts of the United States.