The second civil act of disobedience in three days protesting the Fortuno administration's massive lay-offs ended a little over an hour ago, when Puerto Rican labor leaders pronounced the Labor Secretary's position "vacant" after Secretary Miguel Romero failed to show up at his office for a meeting.

The leaders from the labor coalition All of Puerto Rico For Puerto Rico and SEIU-affiliated locals SPT (Local 1996) and UGT carrying out the action narrowly missed the police anti-riot unit that entered the building shortly after their exit. Members of the Tactical Operations Division (DOT) positioned itself in the 20th floor to reach the 21st floor, where the labor leaders had a sit-in to demand to have their voices heard by Secretary Romero. Watch live video from within the Dept. of Labor action here.

But much like Tuesday's display of police brutality at La Fortalez towards peaceful demonstrators at Gov. Fortuño's instructions, this too was unnecessary--the union representatives had already ended their sit-in, stood up and left the building, declaring "persona non grata" the incumbent Miguel Romero. What should also be noted is that the DOT was not even authorized to be on the 21st floor of the Dept. of Labor building--much less use bodily force to remove the labor leaders from the premises. "There has been no authorization to remove by force from the 21st floor," said Labor Affairs press secretary Sylvette Santiago.

The leaders arrived by surprise at the Labor Department a little after 8:00 am and took the elevator to the 21st floor, where Romero's executive office is located. After being rejected in their attempts to meet with Romero by the Press Secretary and the Undersecretary of Labor, they sat down and blocked the office entrance, demanding Romero's presence and shouting slogans. Labor coalition representative Jose Rodriguez Baez spoke on the group's action, saying ""We used the following approach to show this gentleman to be inefficient....[we declare Romero] persona non grata because he has not represented the workers. He has became the executioner of the workers." As the labor leaders exited the Department of Labor building, they were joined by dozens of protesters awaiting to be informed of their actions and kick off a rally right then and there.

"We accomplished what we came to accomplish", the labor coalition said collectively. "The seat of the Secretary of Labor is now pronounced vacant". At this moment, union members and supporters are having a rally outside the Dept. of Labor building.