In the weeks before Puerto Ricans rose up and took down governor Ricardo Rosselló this summer, educators on the island banded together to defeat a corrupt deal that would have destroyed their pensions. Now they’re organizing against a new version of the same rotten plan. The fight begs a basic question: Why is the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) spending millions of dollars to give away Puerto Rican teachers’ rights?

The rank-and-file uprising in June stopped a sweetheart deal that was negotiated in secret between the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR), which is the local affiliate of the AFT, and the unaccountable Fiscal Control Board that imposes budget cuts and austerity in Puerto Rico. In a highly unusual maneuver, the union opted to spend a year in backdoor negotiations with the widely detested board rather than negotiate with the Department of Education out in the open and with the input of educators.

If passed, the agreement would have increased the retirement age, significantly lowered educators’ retirement salaries, and eliminated the pensions of active and future educators, turning them into 401(k)s — with zero employer contributions. It would have also reduced sick days and holidays, and eliminated bonuses — all under the banner of fiscal responsibility and debt repayment.