 Union leaders expressed concern about layoffs and undervaluing of the company.Jose Juan Hernandez, president of the Independent Telephone Workers Union, claimed that GTE was planning to fire several thousand workers, and that the government offered a "fire sale price, at least $3bn below its value".Some Puerto Ricans saw the proposal as an attempt to gain favor with mainland US business interests, to promote Rosselló's declared goal of statehood for the commonwealth.