INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF MEXICAN WORKERS' RIGHT TO ORGANIZE:

Over the past few years the situation of workers in Mexico has become increasingly dire as both employers and the government employ increasingly violent tactics. This week supporters of Mexican workers will be organizing solidarity rallies across Canada and the world. Here's the story from the Maquila Solidarity Network.

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Rallies planned throughout world in support of trade union rights in Mexico (14-19 February 2011)
February 10, 2011


In recent years the few genuinely independent trade unions seeking to improve the lives of Mexican workers have found themselves increasingly under fire.

The Mexican Miners' Union (Los Mineros), the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union (SME), the union representing workers in Mexico's state-owned petroleum company PEMEX, the National Union of General Tyre Workers of Mexico (SNTGTM) and the Mexican Telephone Workers' Union (STRM) have all faced violent attacks, intimidation and repression of trade union rights.

One of the biggest obstacles to freedom of association for workers in Mexico is the prevalence of "protection contracts," collective agreements negotiated between employers and "official" unions or corrupt lawyers, which serve to "protect" the employer from the emergence of truly representative and democratic trade unions and genuine negotiations to improve wages and working conditions. Protection contracts are negotiated without the knowledge and/or consent of workers and are often in place in a factory even prior to the hiring of workers. Mexican labour rights experts estimate that the vast majority of collective bargaining agreements in the country are in fact protection contracts.

From February 14-18 trade unions in Canada and around the world are joining in the International Days of Action in support the independent trade union movement in Mexico and the right of Mexican workers to be represented by the union of their free choice.

During the week rallies are being held in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver at the Mexican embassy and consulates in those cities to show solidarity with Mexican workers. Meetings are also planned between Canadian union leaders and Mexican embassy and consular officials to discuss these pressing issues.

Planned Canadian rallies:

•Toronto rally: February 14, 13:00-14:00 @ Mexican Consulate (199 Bay Street)
•Montreal rally: February 15, 11:30-13:30 @ Mexican Consulate (2055 Peel Street)
•Ottawa rally: February 15, 15:00-16:00 @ Mexican Embassy (45 O'Conner Street)
•Vancouver rally: February 17, 10:30-12:00 @ Mexican Consulate (Harbour Green Park West Cordova & Bute)
Trade unions from around the world are calling on the Mexican government to:

1.Hold employer and government officials accountable for the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion that killed 65 miners on February 19, 2006.
2.Abolish systemic violations of workers' freedom of association, including employer-dominated "protection contracts" and interference in union elections.
3.End the use of force-by the state or private parties-to repress workers' legitimate demands for democratic unions, better wages and working conditions, and good health and safety conditions.
4.End the campaign of political persecution against the Mexican Miner's Union and the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union.
More Information:

•Read more on planned international actions.
•Information on rallies planned in the U.S.
•Read more on freedom of association and labour rights in México.
•Find out more on the Global Days of Action from the International Metalworkers Federation.
•Read more on the Global Days of Action from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions.
•Join the cause on Facebook

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS:

WRITE FOR FATHER SOLALINDE:





The following appeal is from Amnesty International Canada, and it concerns a priest who has been fighting for Central American immigrants in southern Mexico for some years. Because of this he has fallen afoul of both organized crime and the Mexican government ( are they always different ?). Amnesty is urging you to write the Mexican government to provide the proper protection to Father Solalidene, rather than aid in his persecution. Here's the appeal....

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At Risk:

Father Solalinde threatened for protecting vulnerable migrants in Mexico‏
December 2010


Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra gives his best to those who have the least, aiding and defending Central American migrants in southern Mexico’s Ciudad Ixtapec from criminals who exploit and abuse them.

Because of this work, gangs, officials and intolerant community members threaten Father Solalinde continuously. His life is at risk..

To protect the safety of Father Solalinde is to protect the hundreds of vulnerable migrant workers in Central America who seek his help and refuge.

Please sign our petition calling on Mexican authorities to provide adequate protection for Father Solalinde.

Father Alejandro Solalinde’s life work has been to provide a place of safety for migrants. He coordinates the Catholic Pastoral Care Centre for Migrants in Southwestern Mexico (Pastoral de Movilidad Humana Pacifico Sur del Episcopado Mexicano). The shelter was set up to provide assistance to migrants who get injured or need help.

Despite the constant intimidation, the authorities have done little to protect him, or to investigate the threats against him.

You can take action and learn more about his work and the grave situation facing migrant workers at Amnesty’s Individuals at Risk website.

Please click here to take action

Sincerely,


Alex Neve, Secretary General
Amnesty International, Canadian Section
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THE LETTER
Amnesty International is urging you to send the following letter to the Mexican authorities.
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To:

Lic. José Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaría de Gobernación
Delegación Cuauhtémoc
México D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO

Dear Secretary,

I am writing to you out of my concern for the safety of Father Alejandro Solalinde in Ciudad Ixtepec, Mexico.

Because of Father Solalinde's work to protect vulnerable migrants, he and his team have been subjected to intimidation and death threats. He needs protection from the authorities to ensure he can continue his work securely.

I am requesting that you, as Secretary for the Interior:

* consult with Father Solalinde and his team to determine what protection they wish.

* provide safety measures as completely as possible so that Father Solalinde and his team can carry out their human rights work without fear.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this serious matter.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR MEXICO:
SUPPORT JOHNSON CONTROLS WORKERS AGAINST ASSAULTS:

Mexico's Mineworkers' union is outstanding in that country for being both militant and free from corruption. They have undertaken to organize the unorganized in a number of different industries including auto parts. After a recent sucessful strike members were attacked by thugs from the company union. The Maquila Solidarity Network is asking people to protest this attack. Here's the story and appeal >>>
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Urgent Alert:
Mexican Auto parts workers assaulted at Johnson Controls factory

On Monday, thugs entered a plant owned by Johnson Controls in Puebla, Mexico, and assaulted them, according to reports, "with sticks and stones, leaving many injured." Two of the members of the Executive Committee of the newly formed union at the plant, Cándido Barreucos and Vigilio Melendez, were beaten in a company office and forced to sign letters of resignation, reportedly at gunpoint. They are currently in a hospital with severe injuries.


The union, affiliated to the Mexico's national Mineworkers union, was recognized by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls on May 29, 2010 after a three day strike by the workers at the company's Interiors plant, also known as Resurrection. The Mineworkers believe that the assailants are members of the COS, the company union that was ejected after the strike. Under the agreement ending the strike, Johnson Controls agreed to recognize the Mineworkers as the workers’ union representative and promised to take no reprisals against the strikers.

MSN has phoned and written to Johnson Controls, but the company has not responded. That’s why we’re asking you to join in urging the company to act now.


Our allies the US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) have set up automatic email pages you can use to take two urgent actions: contact Johnson Controls and contact the Mexican government.

Read more, including more information on attacks against our local allies the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT).
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Maquila Solidarity Network
606 Shaw St.
Toronto, ON M6G 3L6
Canada
416 532-8584
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THE LETTERS:
The Maquila Solidarity Network actually has two letters that they'd like you to sign. First of all go to this link to send the following letter to Johnson Controls.

Mr. Stephen A. Roell
President and CEO
Johnson Controls
5757 N. Green Bay Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53209

Dear Mr. Roell:

I was appalled to learn today that thugs were permitted to enter one of your plants in Mexico on the morning of August 16, 2010 and beat up workers who belong to a union your company recently recognized.

I am told that two members of the Executive Committee of the newly-recognized union at the Interiors/Resurrection plant, Cándido Barreucos and Vigilio Melendez, were forced at gunpoint to resign and were beaten so badly that they had to be admitted to a hospital. The thugs were permitted to remain in the plant all day even though Johnson Controls promised it would not take any reprisals when it signed an agreement on May 29, 2010 settling a three-day strike and agreeing to recognize the union.

Workers have apparently been trying to organize independent unions at your plants in Puebla, Mexico for sometime. I understand that your company has also refused to recognize the basic rights of workers at another Johnson Controls plant, FINSA.

Both plants have reportedly had protection unions that are used to keep out independent unions.

I am ashamed that a US company operating in Mexico is accused of such behavior. If Johnson Controls is going to operate plants in Mexico or anywhere else, it should respect the rights of its workers.

I urge Johnson Controls to respect the basic rights of its workers in Mexico, remove the protection union at its Interiors/Resurrection plant, reinstate Cándido Barreucos and Vigilio Melendez whose resignations were coerced, guarantee the security of all of its employees at all plants in Puebla, and honor the agreement you signed on May 29, 2010.

Sincerely,

And then go to this link to send the following letter in Spanish to the Mexican government.

Honorables señores:

El dia de hoy recibí información de que se reanudó la violencia e intimidación hacia trabajadores mexicanos, que buscan ejercer sus derechos laborales básicos, en las fábricas de autopartes que pertenecen a la compañía estadounidense Johnson Controls.

El 16 de agosto del 2010, según informes recibidos, unos golpeadores entraron a una planta que pertenece a Johnson Controls en Puebla y atacaron a los trabajadores con “palos y piedras, dejando muchos heridos.” Dos de los miembros del Comité Ejecutivo del nuevo sindicato en la planta, Cándido Barreucos y Vigilio Melendez, fueron golpeados en la oficina administrativa y obligados a firmar cartas de renuncia, presuntamente a punta de pistola. Actualmente estas personas están en el hospital con lesiones muy graves. El sindicato de mineros, que representa a los trabajadores, cree que los agresores fueron miembros de la COS (Confederacion de Organizaciones Sindicales).

Además, hace unos días, la organización local que apoya a los trabajadores que se están organizando en las plantas de Johnson Controls en Puebla, envió una alerta por las amenazas que recibieron sus miembros. El Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT) reportó que el 9 de agosto, Enrique Morales, Coral Juárez y María Luisa Rosina, fueron amenazados por cuatro hombres que los cercaron en una zona aislada, mientras visitaban a trabajadores de Johnson Controls para informarles sobre sus derechos humanos y laborales. Una de estas personas les hizo la amenaza muy específica sobre la directora del CAT, Blanca Velásquez, diciendo que ella no debía seguirse metiendo con la CROM, el sindicato patronal en otra planta de JCI en Puebla, llamada FINSA, en donde los trabajadores también han intentado organizar un sindicato independiente.

Les escribimos con seria preocupación por las nuevas amenazas hacia los defensores de derechos laborales y humanos en Puebla.

Les pido con mucho respeto, y con mucha urgencia, que las autoridades competentes tomen las medidas inmediatas y apropiadas para asegurar el bienestar de los trabajadores que legítimamente están organizando sindicatos independientes en las plantas de Johnson Controls en Puebla, y de los miembros del CAT y sus familias, quienes están apoyando a estos mismos trabajadores. Sinceramente espero que el gobierno mexicano pueda llevar a la justicia a los responsables de la violencia hacia los trabajadores en la planta mencionada, y por la intimidación hacia los miembros del CAT. De manera respetuosa, también les insto a que el Gobierno Mexicano reconozca al Sindicato de Mineros como el representante auténtico de los trabajadores de la planta de Johnson Controls Interiores, y que el gobierno asegure que la empresa Johnson Controls, a quien estaré escribiéndole por separado, respete los derechos de todos sus trabajadores en México.

En nuestra economía integrada de América del Norte, es de suma importancia que los derechos de los trabajadores en ambos lados de la frontera sean respetados.

Gracias por tomar en cuenta mi punto de vista.

Sinceramente,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

POLICE INVADE OCCUPIED MINE IN SONORA MEXICO:

For years now miners at the Cananea Mine in Sonora Mexico have been on strike and have occupied the mine worksite. Last Sunday the Mexican State acted on behalf of the mine owners to clear the site of strikers. Here's the story from the Upside Down World website.

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Mexican Police Attack Cananea Mine, Beating and Arresting Striking Miners
Written by Dan La Botz
Source: Labor Notes

As many as 2,000 Mexican Federal Police and Sonora State Police, supported by helicopters, invaded the Cananea copper mine Sunday night around 10 p.m., firing tear gas and attacking and beating miners who were defending the mine, according to news reports.

With the police having cleared the mine, managers from Grupo Mexico, the mine owner, took control of the facilities. The company reported that it had 2,000 “contractors” ready to go to work as soon as it was safe to do so.

A small fire broke out in a building on company property. The government says there were no injuries. An eyewitness report states that police fired guns and that one member of Local 65 of the Mexican miners union was wounded. No miners had any weapons, according to the report. The eyewitness adds that after the police took the mine, a meeting of the local union was immediately called, during which a Steelworkers member was speaking when police entered, breaking windows and firing tear gas without regard to the men, women, and children present. The USW, a U.S. and Canadian union, has supported the Cananea struggle for years.

The Mexican Miners and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMRM) has had control of the mine since it went on strike three years ago over health and safety issues. A Mexican court ruled in February that the strike was over and that miners had to leave the mine, but for four months they have refused to do so.

Police had reportedly went to the mine to execute arrest warrants against union leaders, among them Sergio Tolano Lizarraga, general secretary of Local 65, and Juan Gutierrez Ballesteros, delegate to the National Executive Committee of the union.

The strike at the Cananea mine, which once produced 40 percent of Mexico’s copper, has reportedly cost the company $1.35 billion. The strike forms part of a larger struggle between the independent-minded and militant Mexican Mine Workers Union on the one hand and Grupo Mexico and the Mexican government on the other.

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As might be expected a group of people who have occupied their workplace for three years don't give up easily. Here's a report from Reuters about how the miners have regrouped and are trying to prevent scabs from entering the mine.

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UPDATE 1-Mexican police and miners clash at Cananea mine
MEXICO CITY June 10 (Reuters) - Mexican miners clashed briefly with federal police on Thursday at the Cananea copper mine, raising tensions which could complicate owner Grupo Mexico's efforts to reopen the pit after a nearly 3-year-long strike was broken.

Two people were injured during the scuffle, which began when unionized miners tried to block contract workers from entering the mine to start repairs, the union said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the Federal Police said one policeman had teeth knocked out in the clash but denied any miners were hurt.

"There were three large buses of scabs (the company) was bringing into the property and there was a confrontation between the miners and the federal police," Manny Armenta, a visiting representative of the United Steelworkers union, said. The U.S. union has backed the miners.

Television images of the clash showed miners throwing rocks at police in riot gear and security forces responding by shooting tear gas guns at the workers on a road near the mine.

Federal Police took control of the mine in a late Sunday night raid after the union lost a long series of legal battles and a court ruled Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) could fire the workers and reopen the copper mine, Mexico's largest.

The company has said the mine in northern Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border could be running again as soon as the end of this year. [ID:nN09174805]

Cananea once produced 40 percent of Mexico's copper but has been closed since July 2007 when the strike began over health and safety concerns.

Grupo Mexico is planning to invest $3.8 billion in expanding Cananea to increase production there from 190,000 tonnes to 460,000 tonnes a year.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:

INDEPENDENT UNION IN PUEBLA:

The struggle for independent real unions in Mexico has been a long and difficult one, pitting workers against not just "yellow dog" unions but also, bosses and the corrupt political class of the state. Here's a story about a recent victory in this struggle from the Maquila Solidarity Network.

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Johnson Controls Interiors workers win independent union
June 3, 2010


A three-day strike by workers at a Johnson Controls auto parts plant in Puebla, Mexico, backed by an international solidarity campaign, has won the workers the right to be represented by a union of their free choice.

The Johnson Controls Interiors plant employs about 450 workers and produces seats and seat parts for major auto companies, including Ford and Mercedes-Benz.

On May 29, representatives of the striking workers and the company signed an agreement that recognizes the workers' decision to be represented by the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers (SNTMMSSRM or Los Mineros).

A company-controlled "protection union" linked to the Puebla State PRI government has held title to the collective agreement at the factory, but the workers have never received a copy of that agreement nor been consulted about whether they want to be represented by that union.

Precedent-setting agreement
The agreement sets an important precedent in Mexico where employers often sign "protection contracts" with corrupt unions without the workers' knowledge and/or consent in order to prevent those workers from organizing or affiliating with a democratic union.

In addition to recognizing Los Mineros as the workers' union, the agreement also includes the following provisions:

•No reprisals against the workers for participating in the movement;
•No legal action against those who participated in the strike;
•Payment of full wages for time lost do to the strike;
•An annual profit-sharing payment of US$100 per worker (20 times the $5 originally offered by the company); and
•Direct employment and union membership for all workers currently employed through a third-party employment agency.
In Mexico, the workers have received support from the Puebla-based Worker Support Centre (CAT), the Mexico office of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, and the Project for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ProDESC). Organizations mobilizing international solidarity included USW, CAW, UAW, USLEAP, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), and MSN.

Dispute at FINSA plant continues
Meanwhile, the lengthy dispute continues at the company's FINSA plant, also in Puebla, where workers are attempting to rid themselves of another "protection union."

The workers at that factory have formed a Temporary Coalition of Workers in order to negotiate with the company. To date, Johnson Controls has refused to recognize or negotiate with the Coalition, and has fired many of its leaders.

On April 28, two members of the CAT team supporting the workers, Enrique Morales Montaño and Coral Juarez Melo, were visiting Johnson Controls employee in the community of Santo Toribio, Tlaxcala when Enrique was physically assaulted by the 17 year old son of Magdaleno Texis, a local leader of the CROM, the corrupt union that signed a "protection contract" with management at the FINSA factory.

Building international solidarity
FINSA workers are currently touring the United States, seeking solidarity with their struggle to be represented by an independent union.

MSN is joining with counterpart organizations in Mexico and internationally in calling on the company to meet with the Coalition of Johnson Controls Workers, reinstate workers who have been unjustly fired for supporting an independent union, and respect the workers' right to be represented by a union of their free choice.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:

STAND WITH MEXICAN MINERS:

The following appeal for solidarity with Mexican mineworkers in the 'Los Mineros' union comes from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start. Note that the workers have occupied the mine.

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Mexico: Support the Cananea miners

Some 1,200 members of Mexico’s National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union, or Los Mineros, have been on strike since July 2007 at the Cananea mine over health and safety and other contract violations. Grupo Mexico – the mining giant which operates Cananea – and the Mexican government have continuously tried to end the strike and crush the union. The Government of Mexico has threatened and jailed union leaders, illegally frozen union bank accounts and failed to investigate or prosecute assassinations of union members. On February 11, a federal court gave Grupo Mexico permission to fire the striking workers and terminate the labor agreement, effectively eliminating the right to strike in Mexico. The Mexican government has threatened to use armed force to gain control of Cananea. The Los Mineros members at Cananea are resolved to continue occupying the mine until a fair labour agreement is reached. Los Mineros is one of the strongest and most democratic trade unions in Mexico.For more information see the ICEM and IMF websites.

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The letter:

Please go to this link to send the following letter of protest to the Mexican government.

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We support Los Mineros in their fight for justice against the Mexican government and the attack on labor and human rights posed by Grupo México throughout the country, and specifically at Cananea. We call on the Mexican government to withdraw its threats to use armed force in Cananea and instead seek a peaceful solution to the conflict that respects the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. Your government’s interference in union governance, its threatening and jailing of union leaders, freezing union bank accounts, declaring strikes illegal and failing to prosecute the killers of union leaders, are serious and unacceptable violations of basic human rights.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:
SUPPORT MEXICAN ELECTRICAL WORKERS:
In the middle of the night of Saturday, October 10, Mexican President Felipe Calderon send six thousand soldiers and paramilitary police to take over the state power company Luz y Fuerza. In the process it struck a blow against the independent and democratic union (most unions in Mexico are no such thing), the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union. Protests over this repressive move have been mounting both in Mexico where one demonstration drew over 150,000 people and in the rest of the world. Here is an appeal from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) for a protest against this government action.
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Support Mexican electrical workers:
Please take a moment to write to the president of Mexico in support of 40,000 electrical workers at Luz y Fuerza del Centro.





The government of Felipe Calderon sent in federal police to occupy the company's facilities and issued a decree saying it planned to liquidate the company and fire its 40,000 workers, members of the Electrical Workers’ Union, one of Mexico’s oldest and most respected democratic unions.





For background, see: Mexican Government Seizes Power Plants, Liquidates Company, Fires Workers, Union in Jeopardy (Monthly Review)





The Maquila Solidarity Network is running an online action in support of the Mexican electrical workers.





Please take half a minute to fill in their online action and support freedom of association and economic rights for workers in Mexico.
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THE LETTER:

The link above directs you to THIS LINK from the Maquila Solidarity Network. Go there to send the following letter to the Mexican authorities. It should also be noted that this appeal was published earlier on the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog.

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Estimado President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa:
On behalf of [NAME OF YOUR ORGANIZATION]

I am writing to express our alarm and serious concern about your government’s decision to send in Federal Police to occupy the Luz y Fuerza del Centro facilities and to subsequently issue a decree expressing your government’s intent to liquidate the company and to dismiss its 40,000 unionized workers.





We are extremely concerned that your actions will result in the elimination of the Electrical Workers’ Union members' collective bargaining agreement which also represents 15,000 retirees. These actions are a clear indication that your government is determined to eliminate one of Mexico’s oldest and most respected democratic unions, and is prepared to violate recognized international labour standards in order to do so.





We would therefore strongly urge that your government do the following:
• Revoke the decree liquidating Luz y Fuerza del Centro;
• Respect the workers’ employment and labour rights;
• Respect the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union’s collective agreement; and
• Unconditionally recognize the SME’s democratically elected union leadership and respect for the union’s autonomy.





Our organization and other organizations around the world will be closely monitoring your government’s actions in the coming period, and we urge you to fully respect the rights of the members of the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union and negotiate in good faith with the elected leadership of the union for a just resolution to this dispute.
Respectfully,
[NAME/ORGANIZATION]
Copies to:
B. Fernando Gómez Mont, Home Secretary
B. Francisco Javier Lozano Alarcón, Labor Secretary
B. Francisco Ramírez Acuña, President of the Deputies’ Chamber Board
B. Carlos Navarrete Ruiz, President of the Senators’ Chamber Board Ministro Guillermo
I. Ortiz Mayagoitia, President Minister of the Supreme Court
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MORE BACKGROUND:
The online labour solidarity site Labour Start is covering reports about this story as then happen. Please go their for updates. In addition to the source that LS mentions above here is another, fuller description of the situation from the Axis of Logic site.
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Military and Federal Police Bust Mexican Electrical Workers Union:
By Kristin Bricker
My Word Is My Weapon
Thursday, Oct 15, 2009
Calderon Uses 6,000 Federal Agents to Fire Over 44,000 Luz y Fuerza Workers
In the middle of the night last Saturday, President Felipe Calderon sent six thousand soldiers and militarized Federal Police to take over state power company Luz y Fuerza installations in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Morelos, and Hidalgo. Immediately following the takeover, Calderon issued an executive order closing Luz y Fuerza. Because no law or decree can go into effect until it is published in the federal government's Official Diary of the Federation, the government published the executive order in a special edition of the Official Diary of the Federation to coincide with the military and police raids that closed Luz y Fuerza.





Mexican legal experts have criticized Calderon's action as illegal, unconstitutional, and "an excessive and abusive use of power" because he by-passed Congress when he decided to close Luz y Fuerza and deploy the military and police against workers.





The government's official justification for closing Luz y Fuerza is that the company's operating expenses exceed those of other state-owned companies. It claims its use of the military and militarized federal police was a pre-emptive strike: it wanted to prevent workers from striking, taking control of the facilities, and cutting off power in protest of the closing of Luz y Fuerza. However, a week prior to the police and military takeover, the union specifically stated in a press release that it had no intentions of striking nor cutting off power to electricity customers. However, Mexican Labor News & Analysis' Dan La Botz has a different perspective on the government's intentions:





This current threat is the latest in a series of attacks on the union by the government of Felipe Calderón.The Felipe Calderón administration, having spent three years trying to destroy the Mexican Miners and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMRM), has now opened a new front in its war on the working class. In September the government launched a multifaceted attack intended to destroy the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) which has been at the center of resistance to its neoliberal programs.




The government's attack has several elements. First, the government is supporting a small dissident faction within the union, using that as an opportunity to meddle in the union's internal life with the goal of breaking its militant leadership. Second, the government, which is also the employer, has reduced the budget for the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC). Third, the government is also calling for a change in company management and for the complete restructuring of the company.





La Botz also notes that the Mexican government officially refused to recognize the union's president, Martin Esparza Flores, following his recent re-election. According to La Botz,





In practice, these administrative procedures (which are nowhere found in Mexican labor law) are used against independent or democratic unions or against unions opposing government policies, and almost never against government backed, employer controlled or gangster-run unions. Without government approved and recognized officers, the union officials cannot engage in collective bargaining or other union activities, leaving the union officially leaderless.





With Luz y Fuerza officially non-existant, the governmental Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has announced that it is sending thousands of its employees to run Luz y Fuerza until CFE can absorb Luz y Fuerza's operations entirely. Prior to the takeover, Luz y Fuerza ran electricity operations in central Mexico: in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Morelos, and Hidalgo. The CFE provided electricity to the rest of the country.





La Botz argues that the CFE takeover means that the independent and democratic 44,000-worker SME will be replaced by the government-controlled Sole Union of Mexican Electrical Workers (SUTERM), which represents CFE workers. In Mexico, government-controlled unions are the norm, and independent democratic unions are a rarity.




In an article written just before the military and police takeover of Luz y Fuerza, La Botz wrote:
Calderón's administration has two motives in its attack on the SME. First, it wants to break the SME because it has been the center of so many movements resisting the Calderón government, its neoliberal policies, and particularly its plans to privatize the petroleum and electric power industries. Second, Calderón wants specifically to privatize the electrical industry, including the Central Light and Power Company, and to do so it must break the power of the SME.





NAFTA Armed
While government officials have promised that they won't take advantage of the Luz y Fuerza takeover to privatize the electricity sector, the Calderon administration's political trajectory states otherwise.




The Calderon administration participated whole-heartedly in the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a private sector strategy to expand and "arm" the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) without having to obtain domestic legislatures' approval. As of this past summer, the SPP is no longer an active initiative; however, several of the SPP's working groups, comprised of private sector industry leaders, will continue to meet. The North American Energy Working Group (NAEWG), for example, pre-dated the SPP by four years. It met within the SPP framework to develop and advance SPP energy policy and procedures. The NAEWG is likely to continue to operate in some form despite the SPP's official and indefinite "inactivity."




Indeed, despite the tabling of the SPP initiative, North American energy interests met over the summer to develop regional energy corridors that would increase the flow of energy from neighboring countries into the United States.




The SPP's view of energy management is clear. According to the SPP's "Prosperity Agenda," in order to "facilitate business," Canada, Mexico, and the United States must "strengthen North America's energy markets by working together, according to our respective legal frameworks, to increase reliable energy supplies for the region's needs and development." Energy, according to the SPP, rather can being used for human development (providing every citizen with electricity in their homes, for example), must increase the business sector's prosperity. Energy is a market, not a national resource.




The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), which coordinated the SPP's working groups, stated one of its principle energy concerns in its initial recommendations. The NACC, which was comprised of equal numbers of private sector representatives from Mexico, Canada, and the US, wrote, "The prosperity of the United States relies heavily on a secure supply of imported energy."




What does the North American energy agenda mean for Mexico? In Mexico, a significant sector of the population does not have electricity and other basic utilities in their homes. Entire communities lack electric service. Some of Mexico's poorest indigenous communities pay some of the highest electricity rates on the North American continent.




Even though Mexico's electricity sector has not reached a basic level of functionality at the domestic level (electricity for every citizen), Mexican leaders have decided to enter into regional agreements such as Plan Puebla Panama (now the Mesoamerican Project) and the SPP, which aim to increase energy flows into the United States, not vice-versa.




Mexico's energy sector, as it is currently structured, runs entirely counter to the SPP's Prosperity Agenda. Mexico's energy companies are state-owned. Some energy sector unions, such as the Pemex oil workers union and the SME, have actively opposed the further privatization of the nation's energy resources, which is commonly considered to be an SPP goal in Mexico. La Botz notes that the SME formed the National Front Against Privatization. Pemex, on the other hand, recently (more or less) survived a Calderon initiative to privatize the Mexican oil sector.
Militarizing Mexican Life
Calderon's Saturday night invasion of Luz y Fuerza's facilities in the capital and four states is reminiscent of other recent joint police-military operations against drug cartels. Since Calderon deployed 40,000 soldiers and thousands of militarized Federal Police, one of the campaign's hallmark operations has been the sudden takeover of police stations in towns and cities where drug trafficking organizations are believed to have corrupted entire police forces. In these operations, soldiers and federal police surround a police station, relieve the local police officers of their duties, and occupy the building. When 6,000 soldiers and federal police suddenly invaded Luz y Fuerza's buildings and then occupied them to prevent the workers from retaking the facilities, one would have thought that Luz y Fuerza was a drug cartel's base of operations. But it wasn't.




Mexico is becoming increasingly militarized under the pretext provided by the war on drugs. Mexican citizens are becoming correspondingly desensitized to such blatant displays of state military power in the civilian realm. Mexico's Constitution expressly prohibits the military's use in times of peace; however, this was not Mexicans' principle criticism of the operation against Luz y Fuerza. Mexicans consulted by this reporter complained that the operation was a blow to the country's democratic unions, as well as a step towards privatization of the energy sector. When this reporter commented on the barbarity of deploying the military and riot police against a civilian union--one that wasn't even on strike, as if that were to justify such represion--the response was, "Tienes razon. You're right. I hadn't even considered that."




The use of the military and the Federal Police--who receive military training--against unions is fairly common in Mexico. The military and the Federal Police (formerly known as the Federal Preventive Police or PFP) have been deployed against striking miners and teachers. Likewise, in 2006 federal police violently put down social conflicts in Oaxaca and Atenco, both of which had their roots in labor disputes.




Both the Mexican Military and the Federal Police receive training, equipment, and armament from the United States government under the Merida Initative. The Merida Initiative is designed in part to carry out the Security and Prosperity Partnership's "Security Agenda."
My Word is My Weapon

ABORIGINAL ISSUES-MEXICO:

PROTECT OBTILIA EUGENIO MANUEL:

The following appeal is from Amnesty International Canada.

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Obtilia Eugenio Manuel's life is under threat: Please write:
Sign the petition urging Mexico to provide protection for Obtilia
Obtilia Eugenio Manuel is small in stature but her voice is large and strong. She doesn’t hesitate to raise it in defense of the inhabitants of Me’ phaa Indigenous communities in Mexico’s Guerrero State, who continue to suffer persecution and injustice.

But Obtilia’s outspoken leadership has put her in danger. We need five minutes of your time now to help protect Obtilia from harm.

Amnesty Canada’s Mexico campaigner Kathy Price met Obtilia in Mexico this summer.

“I can’t say enough about Obtilia’s determined efforts to denounce terrible abuses by agents of the state,” reports Kathy. “She is a respected leader of the Me’ phaa Indigenous People’s Organization and spoke out eloquently at public demonstrations, in media interviews and to government officials. But Guerrero is an extremely dangerous place to be a human rights defender. Other Indigenous leaders have been abducted and killed. I am very worried about recent threats against Obtilia.”

Following the murder earlier this year of Indigenous leaders Raúl Lucas Lucía and Manuel Ponce Rosas, whose bodies bore marks of torture, Obtilia received a series of text messages on her cell phone. The messages warned Obtilia to expect the same fate.

Another text message included information that suggested her phone was tapped. The message warned that Obtilia would be intercepted during the journey she was about to make.

Later, she was followed and heard gunshots nearby.

In April, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognized the urgency of the situation and called on the government of Mexico to provide measures to protect Obtilia and her family. The response has been far from adequate.

On July 15, Obtilia was on her way to the state capital for a meeting with government officials regarding the implementation of security measures. As she left the bus station, two men approached, asking if she was Obtilia from Ayutla and whether she was traveling to the state capital. Fearing abduction, Obtilia ran back into the crowded station while the men followed her.

She managed to escape but later when Obtilia tried to continue her journey, she saw the men waiting in a car with no licence plates.

Please sign Amnesty’s e-petition urging Mexico’s Interior Minister to guarantee the protection of Obtilia Eugenio Manuel so she can safely continue to carry out her work on behalf of the rights of Me’ phaa Indigenous people.

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THE PETITION

Please go to either the Amnesty International Canada website or THIS LINK to send the following message to the Mexican authorities.

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Secretaría de Gobernación

Lic. Fernando Gómez Mont

Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,

Del. Cuauhtémoc, México D.F.,

CP 06600, MEXICO

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express my deep concern about ongoing threats and intimidation against Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, a respected leader of the Me’ phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (OPIM). The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has called on the Mexican government for “provisional measures” to protect Obtilia from harm. The inadequate response is extremely worrying. It is the duty of the government of Mexico to protect human rights defenders from harm.
Please act without delay to:
*Ensure that Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and her family receives effective protection, in accordance with their wishes and the recommendation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
*Investigate and bring to justice those responsible for threats and interference with Obtilia Eugenio Manuel.
*Publicly signal the support of the Mexican government for the legitimate activities of Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and other members of the Me’ phaa Indigenous People’s Organization in defence of human rights.