NYT19980618.0484 NEWS NEWSWIRE More than 6,000 telephone workers went on an island-wide strike Thursday to try to stop the sale of a controlling stake of the government-owned Puerto Rico Telephone Co. to a consortium led by the GTE Corp. The strike began with several confrontations between picketers and the police on the same day the Puerto Rico Senate approved the $1.8 billion sale. The House was expected to do the same by Saturday. But the sale, in which GTE has agreed to buy a majority stake in the telephone company _ 50 percent plus one share _ for $375 million, is not expected to be completed until the end of the year, pending regulatory approval, including that of the Federal Communications Commission. Many countries where telephone companies have been state monopolies, particularly in Latin America, are privatizing the concerns. But the government here has faced heated public opposition to selling what many view with nationalistic pride as a profitable public asset that could compete in an open telecommunications market. Workers also fear massive layoffs from Connecticut-based GTE, which has said it would honor existing labor contracts and would not dismiss any employees for at least one year. Michael Masin, vice chairman of GTE and president of international operations, said the company had yet to assess whether dismissals would be required. But he added that the company planned to offer financial inducements for workers to leave voluntarily if necessary within the first year. He called the strike ``unfortunate'' and said GTE was prepared to sit down with the two striking unions, the Independent Brotherhood of Telephone Workers with 2,000 members and the 4,400-member Independent Telephone Workers Union, to deal with their concerns. The strike's first day began on a violent note when shoving matches broke out broke out between riot police officers escorting managerial workers to their offices and striking workers who tried to block their way at several buildings here. In a chaotic early-morning scene captured by television cameras, police officers hit and jabbed workers with nightsticks as they clung to an entrance gate to prevent anyone from entering. About 1,400 of a total of 1,800 management employees made it to work on Thursday, the telephone company said, with some ferried by helicopters to the roof of the telephone company's headquarters here. Others rushed through picket lines with food and pillows. Superintendent Pedro Toledo of the police department recommended long stays for those working to minimize confrontations. The police said there had been only one arrest, that of a worker accused of spraying the police with a substance similar to Mace, and two incidents of sabotage that left some San Juan neighborhoods without telephone service. While customers found it hard on Thursday to get directory assistance and operator service, company officials said regular phone service was virtually normal throughout the island of nearly 4 million residents. The partial sale of the telephone company is part of a privatization program initiated by Gov. Pedro Rossells. In an interview on Thursday, he said that telecommunications legislation enacted by Congress in 1996 mandated an end to the telephone monopoly here and that he envisioned more efficiency, better service and lower rates after the company passed to private control. ``We see no reason for the government to be an additional and ineffective competitor,'' he said. Union leaders, however, have criticized the deal struck with GTE as too favorable for the buyer, and political opponents have accused the governor of selling the company short in order to finance some of his electoral promises. Under the terms of the agreement, the government of Puerto Rico would receive $1.8 billion for the majority share of the company, of which a consortium that includes GTE, Banco Popular of Puerto Rico and other local investors would pay $375 million, a cash figure critics find too low. The other $1.5 billion would come from a commercial loan taken by the privatized telephone company. The government of Puerto Rico would retain at least 44 percent ownership after contributing a 3 percent interest to an employee stock ownership plan and offering to sell an additional 3 percent interest to employees for that plan. The money from the sale would go to pay off the telephone company's current debt, finance certain retirement and health-care benefits for company employees and establish a $1 billion fund to invest in public works like sewage systems and water distribution systems. ``We have worked to maintain Puerto Rico Telephone at its present level and have shown ourselves to be productive workers and the people of Puerto Rico know it,'' said Olga Grajales, 43, a striking employee who works in the billing and collections department. ``The people know that really what they're doing is a theft.''