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Workers Protest Mexican President’s Anti-Worker Policies
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Some 160 members of the United Steelworkers (USW), union staff and supporters from around Washington, D.C., today protested Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s visit to the nation’s capital and condemned his government’s repression of workers’ rights in Mexico.
The USW and the AFL-CIO have both denounced the Mexican government’s four-year-long campaign to destroy the independent mine workers’ union, Los Mineros. Members of Los Mineros have been on strike since July 2007 at the Cananea mine in Northern Mexico over health and safety and other contract violations.
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told the crowd:
I am here to say that we in the labor movement fight equally for workers in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, in Mexico and all across the globe. We will not let borders divide us and pit us against each other, and we’re serious when we say that an injury to one worker is an injury against all workers.
The Mexican government refused to recognize the results of the miners’ union election, brought charges against the union’s president, Napoleon Gómez Urrutia, and forcefully removed him from office. Union assets have been seized, and striking workers at the Cananea mine, owned by mining giant Grupo Mexico, have been subjected to what Trumka calls a “protracted campaign of repression” that has left two dead and many others injured at the hands of the Mexican armed forces. Gómez spoke by cell phone from exile in Vancouver to the demonstrators through a loud speaker hookup. He told the crowd:
We cannot let the government defeat the rights of the Los Mineros to a labor contract.
USW President Leo Gerard said in a statement:
We call on the Mexican government to withdraw its threat to use military force to dislodge the strikers and to negotiate with the Los Mineros to peacefully resolve this conflict .
On Feb. 11, a Mexican federal court gave Grupo Mexico permission to fire the striking workers and terminate the labor agreement. The government has threatened to use armed force to gain control of Cananea.
In a May 17 letter, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka urged the congressional leadership to raise the issue of workers’ rights with Calderon during his visit.
It is absolutely critical to the economic and social advancement of the (North American) region that Mexican workers have the opportunity to work in good jobs with higher wages so that they can provide for their families and contribute to real and sustainable development in Mexico. There can be no effective solution to the issues of border security and immigration as long as Mexico fails to provide economic opportunity to a large segment of its population.
Last October, Calderon fired 44,000 members of the independent Mexican Electrical Workers Union after refusing to negotiate with the union. Click here to read Trumka’s letter condemning Mexico’s anti-worker actions.
In an article in The Hill newspaper yesterday, Trumka challenged U.S. lawmakers and government leaders to bring up the workers’ rights issue with Calderon.
…we are still in the early phase of what will be a decades-long globalization of the world’s economy, and we’re still building the legal and moral infrastructure that will govern it for generations to come. The decisions we make today matter deeply. Calderon should end the exile of Los Mineros’ leaders, prosecute those who attacked and killed miners and insist that Grupo Mexico honor international workplace safety and labor norms. The question remains, however: Will our government ask him to do so?
Read The Hill column here.
Durazo also put our political leaders on notice that workers are watching to see how they deal with global workers’ rights issues.
We are not giving away any free passes. Just because a politician is defending immigrant workers in this country does not mean we will excuse him for fighting against workers rights in Mexico.
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7 Comments
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Do people realize that this illegitimate Calderon stole his election with the same company(choicepoint)that was used to purge legitimate Florida voters from the roles in the 2000 Presidential election?If Olbrador had won he was set to expand Mexicos business infrastructure and in turn bring back all those that were in America illegally.Why do you think that the Bush Administration would allow that to happen?
COMPANIES AND CORPORATIONS LOVE THE SLAVE LABOR WITHOUT THE TAXES OR BENEFITS.
They are making a killing and the American Taxpayer is subsidizing it.
There is an article that appeared on 8/7/2006 about Grupo Mexico
that shows who sits on their board of directors.
http://www.truthout.org/article/david-bacon-hundreds-mexican-miners-fired-striking
We are talking the: Directors of Kimberly Clark Mexico (tied to the family business of Rep. James Sensenbrenner R-Wis)
The Carlyle Group whose board includes former Pres. George Bush Sr.
So knowing all this, Is it any surprise if the WhiteHouse doesn’t pay much attention and Mexico’s President doesn’t address the issue and it continues as business as usual???
I have stated repeatedly…that the Labor movement itself is totally fragmented. It’s bad enough that we have to fight ‘corporate’ executives but fighting Washington..whether it’s Senators/Representatives or the President… doesn’t make any difference. They are all outsourcing US… and are exploiting people who are in worse shape than us. The labor movement needs to come together as a huge coalition movement… I have a problem when utility companies are foreign owned… another example! It doesn’t make any difference if the country is an ‘ally’, things can change in a NY minute…9/11 proved that. We need to start a national conversation for ALL labor. Also… our labor ‘leaders’…need to get it together… some who make it to high level positions… seem to forget where they came from.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone as our own government, especially the right wing republican and extremists of this group wish to do the same with our unions today. They have totally brainwashed most of the population and passed right to work laws which has crippled the rights and effectiveness of organized labor. This country is quickly falling into the 3rd world distinction as more power is grabbed by labor hating politicians and the noose is tightening around our throats. People today just don’t care and its totally dispicable!!!!
The American unions should philosophically support foreign unions in principle only.When are the AMERICAN unions going to unite to salvage this country’s workers standard of living? The democrats only want to get Mexican workers support for votes and the republicans want cheap labor. In the mean time we get a diluted and undermined work force. I’m tired of my American way of life getting shipped out to Mexico.Calderon is no friend to the US worker and frankly I don’t give a damn about him either. I am an AMERICAN UNION WORKER out to make America sucessfull to our middle class. Other countries need to take care of themselves.
The United States has to begin taking care of our own. Is it a great idea to ship jobs out of the country only to unionize their people? Yeah..for them.I think that we American union workers are getting sold out. Why do we cheer on union victories for foreign union people working in the factories that moved OUT of the USA? Stop being a democrat or a republican and start thinking about being an AMERICAN UNIONIZED WORKER before they all sell us out completely. Sorry that stings.
I recently spent a week with the Mineros in Michelon state. These people want to work and they are not afraid to work hard. All they are asking is a whopping $5.00 and hour wage and proper breathing apparatus since people die DAILY from silica dust intake that the company refuses to provide basic protection from and this IS the major sticking point for the strike, they don’t want to die, because they go to work.
Personally I believe if the people of Mexico were “allowed” , since “union” rights are the law in the country and which Calderon and the mega-corporations ignore, to organize peacefully and really negotiate for wages and safety, the illegal immigrant problem in America would cease to be a problem. The poverty rate in Mexico is unrelenting, literally people live beside roadways because they have no ability to buy land. In a 60 mile trip, our bus was stopped twice, once by the “Mexican Marines” and once by the Federal Police. People in America should be proud and grateful to unions for what we have, WE wouldn’t live like they do, at least willingly, and neither do they.