Global Unions Condemn Mexico’s Move to Bust 44,000-Member Union
The global union movement is accusing Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, of systematically trying to bust independent unions and is demanding that he respect the rights of workers to form unions.
The latest example of Calderón’s anti-worker bias is the takeover last month by federal agents and police of the country’s second largest electrical power distributor, Luz y Fuerza (Central Light and Power). Calderón used an executive decree to dissolve the utility, but, in doing so, he also fired the entire 44,000-person workforce and disbanded their union, the 95-year-old Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME), a frequent critic of the government’s policies.
How Can Unions Fit into Industry-Driven Climate Agreements?
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, has recently returned from Bonn, Germany, where he participated in meetings to ensure that labor’s input contributes to larger United Nations climate change discussions later this year. This report follows up on his first three blogs from Bonn here, here and here.
Climate talks in Bonn have gone slowly. Developing nations have been claiming that developed nations have all the “historic responsibility” for acting on climate change and they have none. At another level, the undercurrent was all about the major diplomatic initiative in Beijing led by Todd Stern, U.S. special envoy for climate. Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. delegation leader, left Bonn to join him in China.
Upon his return to Bonn, Pershing said the discussions had been productive. He said they had discussed the idea of a joint research and development agenda, and although no decisions had been made, “that was to be expected for a first meeting.” It makes sense but the media tended to report it as a disappointment because there was no “breakthrough announcement.” That’s the nature of the high expectations and recognition that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the keys to achieving a global climate agreement.
Global Support Growing for Employee Free Choice
Since Friday, when we wrote about international union support for the Employee Free Choice Act, more letters backing this critical legislation have poured in from around the world.
In separate letters to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, leaders of unions in eight countries, along with an international union federation, have expressed solid support for the bill. The latest letters come from all corners of the world: Paraguay, Japan, Ghana, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Togo, the base of the 13-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM).
