Four men walked to the parking lot before dawn, then sat down blocking the entrance and linked their arms to await the arrival of hundreds of federal and state employees for the work day.

Protesting years without pay raises, the four employees of Puerto Rico’s Authority of Roads and Transportation refused to budge. A specialized police unit finally moved in to remove them, and as they were put in handcuffs, one of the men yelled: “Fair salary! Give us what you owe us!”

It’s a cry that has echoed across Puerto Rico in recent weeks as government employees and supporters take to the streets, emboldened by thousands of public school teachers who abandoned classrooms in early February to demand raises and better pensions.

Protests are multiplying, with union leaders calling another demonstration for Friday, and social unrest is posing one of the biggest challenges for Gov. Pedro Pierluisi a year into his term.

“The people kicked the U.S. military out of Vieques. They kicked out a governor. We can make this happen,” said Abner Dumey, who teaches history in the northern town of Naranjito.

Legislators are the only public workers who have an automatic cost-of-living increase for their salaries, The U.S. territory’s other public employees have not gotten pay raises in more than a decade — sometimes two — as the cost of living rises and the island fights to emerge from a lengthy economic crisis and a government bankruptcy in the aftermath of deadly hurricanes, earthquakes and the pandemic.

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