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| Many thanks to David Bacon |
Mexican Labor News
& Analysis
Current Issues
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April , 2013 | March , 2013 | February , 2013
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April , 2012 | December , 2011
Earlier this month we received the devastating news that our long-time friend Stephen Coats had died in his sleep. For more than 25 years, Stephen worked tirelessly to defend the rights of Latin American workers as the director of the Chicago-based US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP), formerly the US/Guatemala Labor Education Project (US/GLEP).
We include tributes from ILRF http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2013/04/remembering-stephen-coats-recordando-a-stephen-coats.html and MSN
http://en.maquilasolidarity.org/node/1121
Steve's family advised that contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to USLEAP -www.usleap... Read more
- Mexican Teachers' Rebellion Against Gov't Education Reform
- Normalistas Block Highways, Seize Buildings
- Chiapas: Thousands March for Release of Schoolteacher
- Five Students Seize UNAM Tower; Peaceful Solution Sought
- Honda Workers' Strike Wins Modest Gains
- Mexican Gov't Misrepresentation During the Days of Action
- Hundreds in Jalapa, Mexico City Protest Journalists' Murders
- Labor Outsourcing Rises in Mexico
- LABOR SHORTS: UFCW Canada/CNC Pact; Mexico Cheaper than China; Remittances Fall
Dear Readers,
Because this is a lengthy issue we have divided it into three parts. The first section contains information related to the Days of Action in solidarity with the independent trade unions and includes both the Declaration of the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA) and a report on actions around the world. We also encourage you to take action in support of the workers at PKC if you haven't already done so.
The second section contains an overview of the impact of NAFTA and labor news from the past month, the most notable being the arrest of Elba Esther Gordillo... Read more
- Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA) Declaration
- Labor, Worker Rights Activists Condemn Attacks on Workers' Rights in Mexico
- PKC Leader Addresses Women of Steel
- NAFTA at 20: The New Spin
- President Peña Nieto on a Roll
- Teachers March Against Ed Reform and for Democratic Union
- Teachers' Union Leader Gordillo Jailed for Embezzlement: a Signal to Other Unions
- US-Style School Reform Goes South
- National Action Proposes Ending Public Workers Dues Check-off
- Telephone Union Seeks Protection from New Telcom Law
- Silvia Ramos Luna of UNTyPP Wins Reinstatement!
- Celebration of International Women's Day
- Working Women: the Statistics
- Domestic Workers in Mexico: Highly Exploited, Underpaid
- Unionization Among Mexican Women Workers
- Mexican Women: Highest Level of Sexual Violence, Trafficking
- Juárez Rights Activist Seeks Asylum in US
- SHORTS: 26,121 disappeared; Comandante Moisés; and statistics on mexican immigrants to US
- RESOURCES: Press clips
- Join Days of Action for Worker Rights in Mexico, February 18-24!
- Massive Working Class March Against Supreme Court Decision; Demands for a New Political and Economic Direction
- Mexican Supreme Court Rules Against Electrical Workers
- Fight Against Labor Law Reform Floods Mexican Courts with Appeals
- Explosion in Pemex Headquarters Caused by Gas Leak: 37 Dead
- Miners Union Leader Refutes Rumors of New Arrest Warrant
- Teachers Protest Against Educational Reform
- National Union of Workers Launches Minimum Wage Campaign
- Mexicana Unions Try Again to Get the Planes Off the Ground
- Mexico's New Social Movement: Self-defense Against Crime
- Labor Shorts: University Unions Settle Contracts; Urugayan Unions Protest lack of Freedom of Association in Mexico
- Social Statistics: Gas Prices, Immigration Both Increase
- Shorts: Hunger Strike Against GMO Corn; New Mexican Ambassador to US
- Resources
- Up-coming Events
Dear Readers,
As always, the bulk of our January issue is devoted to a review of the past year. However, we also want to alert you to two items. First, Ten members of Los Mineros who were fired by Finnish-based PKC before Christmas started a hunger strike on 8 January to protest the union-busting. Second, the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance will be coordinating Days of Action again this year from February 18 – 24 in solidarity with the independent unions in Mexico. For more information, click
here... Read more
Dear Union Sisters and Brothers, Activists and Friends:
Every month the United Electrical Workers (UE) brings you Mexican Labor News and Analysis. With the invaluable assistance of editor Dan LaBotz, MLNA is still going strong at 17 years!
This year, Professor Ness has decided to support the cross-border work of UE and FAT by donating multiple copies of his book Ours to Master and to Own, Workers Control from the Commune to the Present.
Here is why: “I have come to the conclusion that the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) represents the wave of the future in Mexico... Read more
- A First Look at the New Administration of Enrique Peña Nieto
- Peña Nieto Pushes Plan for Education Reform; Workers Wary
- New Administration’s Cabinet Reflects President’s History, Goals
- PeÑa Nieto Lays Out Plans to Deal with Drug Cartels: More Police
- Congress Passes New Tax Law; Critics Say It Favors Business
- Secretary of Labor Proposes Social Security for Informal Workers
- Senate Proposes Pensions for All Adults over 65
- Mexico Increases Minimum Wage by 4.2 Percent
- Mexican Electrical Workers Union Seeks relief from New Government
- The State of Mexican Agriculture and Farmers
- UNI World Executive Board Issues Statement on Protection Contracts and Labor Reform in Mexico
- Mexican NAO Recommends That USDOL Take Action to Ensure Respect for Labor Rights in North Carolina
- Mexican Government Sides with Migrant Workers and Seeks Consultation with the U.S. DOL to Remedy Violations
- Co-op Workers from the U.S. and Mexico Share Experiences in UE-FAT Exchange
- Political Shorts: Morena to Become Legal Party, PRD Criticized for Supporting Pact; New Guerrilla Movement
- Labor Shorts: New Labor Law; Mexicana Pilots; Radio Trece Noticias Fires All Staff
- Economic Shorts: Informal Economy; Prices Rise
- Resources: Drug War Toll Exceeds 120,000
As MLNA readers are aware, in the last legislative session political reforms were approved to allow the president to designate two initiatives under a thirty day process at the opening of each legislative session. Labor Law reform legislation was introduced in this way... Read more
- Mexico Passes Pro-business Labor Law Reform; Independent Unions Promise Resistance
- New Labor Law, Initial Evaluation
- Students, Youth to Carry Out Referendum on Labor Law Reform
- Two Decades of "free Trade" Is Enough: Mexican Organizations Meet, Say No to Expansion Through the Trans-pacific Partnership (TPP)
- Left Parties Will Demonstrate Against New President on Dec. 1
- Labor Board Rejects Lower House’s Appeal on Behalf of Electrical Workers
- Morena Takes Next Steps to Establish Itself as a New Party on the Mexican Left
- Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on President Obama's Meeting with Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto
- Fight over Leadership of the National Union of Social Security Workers
- OECD Pushing Mexico to Adopt Stronger Education Measures
- PRI and PRD Reach Agreement to Lay Off 4,000 Public Employees
- Mexico: when the Center Will Not Hold
- Labor Shorts: SME, Honda and SANDAK Updates
- Shorts: Remittances and Calderón's Next Job
- Up-coming Events: U.S.LEAP Turns 25
- Labor Law Reform Stalled as Mexican Congress Debates Process
- The Position of the UNT on the Approval of the Labor Reform
- Mexico's Labor Law Reform Sparks Massive Protests
- Despite Major Legal Victory, Electrical Workers Not Back at Work
- Independent Union Defeated at PKC Plant Through "fraud"
- UAW Organizer, Videographer Arrested and Deported for Filming Prior to PKC Election
- Elba Esther Gordillo Re-elected to Head Teachers Union; First Appointed Head in 1989, She Will Serve until 2018
- Deschamps, Pemexgate Figure, Reelected by Oil Workers
- Mexico: a Prolifertion of Parties, Almost All Moving Right
- Labor Shorts
- Resources: Video with Ben Davis; Film on Guest Workers, Etc.
- Upcoming Events: two Exhibits of Photos by David Bacon:
- Unions Oppose Labor Law Reform: for Quite Different Reasons
- Declaration of the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA)
- 36 Reasons Not to Approve the Labor Law Reform of Calderón
- SME Wins Major Victory
- Mexican Electrical Workers End Sit-in in National Plaza
- PEMEX Plant Fire: 29 Dead, 7 Missing, 46 Injured Near U.S. Border
- The PRI Is Back, the Left in Disarray
- Waiting for September 6
- Mexico’s Independent Unions Prepare to Confront the Pri
- Mexican Miners Reelect Napoleón Gómez Urrutia; Chart Course
- SANDAK Workers Attacked by Management security, 3 Injured
- Honda Workers Demand Union Representation Election Again
- Mexicana Still Closed after Two Years of Failed Efforts
- Railroad Workers Demand National Union Keep Clear of Local Elections
- Mexican Government Gives Federal Employees 5.75% Raise
- Mexican Truckers Stage National Protest
- Labor Statistics and Scholarship Opportunity
- Resources
NOTE TO READERS: HISTORIC MOMENT IN MEXICO
We are at an historic moment in Mexico, both because of the campaign being waged by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to overturn the elections, but even more because of the rise of the #I Am 132 student movement that has inspired a mass movement to resist what it sees as the “imposition” of Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) by the election authorities. While Mexican Labor News and Analysis, has for seventeen years focused primarily on workers, labor unions and labor politics, when development such as this occur, we must cover them because they have a profound impact on the national political scene and therefore on workers and the labor unions... Read more
- Mexican Movement Fights "Imposition" of PRI's Enrique Peña Nieto
- Documents of the Movement in Translation: Manifesto the #I am 132 to the People of Mexico
- Documents of the Movement in Translation: National Plan for the Defense of Democracy and Dignity of Mexico
- FAT Affiliate Wins Second Election at DMI
- Outlook Dim for Mexican Workers: Unemploment, Rights Denied
- Mine Explosion Takes Lives of Seven Miners in Coahuila
- Rights Observers Find "Climate of Intimidation" in Mineworker Representation Election
- Mexican Farmers Up Against Canadian Mining Goliaths
- Special Report:: The Massacre of Miners Continues
- LABOR SHORTS: SME Protestors Beaten; Flex–N–Gate Workers Form Democratic Union; CAT Recognized by International Peace Brigades
- Resources
- Violence Forces Mexican Workers Center to Close
- On the Eve of the Elections: The Impact of a New Student Movement
- Inside Mexico’s New Youth Rebellion
- Mexican Government Recognizes Gómez Urrutia as Mine Union's Leader
- Two Presidential Candidates Call for Democratizating Unions
- Women Workers at Flex-N-gate Demand Their Labor Rights
- Unions Debate Way Forward to Achieve Labor Rights in Mexico
- Mexican Teacher Protests Get Attention of Orbitz and Customers
- Labor Shorts: SANDAK Update, FAT Presentation to RR Workers, and Durango Miners File OECD Complaint
- News in Brief: TPP and G-20
- Resources
- Support Requested
- Up-coming Events
MAY – A MONTH OF MARCHES
May was a month of marches in Mexico City and in other cities throughout the country. Students marched against Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Mothers marched on Mothers’ Day to protest the disappearance of thousands of Mexicans, many presume to be victims of the on-going war between the government and the drug cartels.
Workers marched on May Day to protest economic policies of the government and violations of workers rights.
Much of the country’s attention, however, is focused on the election where the PRI’s Peña Nieto leads in the polls by almost 20 percentage points, but his opponents question the accuracy of the polls... Read more
- Urgent Action: Workers' Rights Activist Kidnapped and Tortured
- Please Support Striking Garment Workers
- Students Lead Massive March Against PRI Candidate Peña Nieto
- Mothers March on Mexico City Against Disappearances
- International Workers Day in Mexico: Last May Day of Pan Era
- Populist Candidate López Obrador Moves up in Polls in Mexico as His Keynesian Impulses Give Way to Appeals to Business
- USW Welcomes Restoration of Legal Status to Mexican Miners Leader
- Mexican DMI Workers Visit UE Members at DMI in Ohio
- Mexico's Cananea Strikers: Fighting for the Right to a Union
- Mexican Electrical Workers, Other Unions Found New Federation
- International Tribunal for Trade Union Right to Freedom of Association
- Wal-Mart Scandal Investigation Expands—time to Look at Unions
- UNI Approves Resolution on Protection Contracts and Labor Reform in Mexico
- Labor Shorts: UNTYPP, STUHM, FAT and SME
- Resources
- Up-coming Events
- Peasants and Farmers Protest in Capital, States; Demand Aid
- Mexican Unions Enter National Elections Deeply Divided
- López Obrador: Pensions at 65; Peace with EZLN; Talks with Bosses
- Vázquez Mota: Industrialize, Labor Law Reform, Women Workers
- Teachers Leader Gordillo Flips on National Teacher Tests
- Court Rules in Favor of Gómez Urrutia; Final Warrant Dismissed
- Finnish Unions Show Solidarity with Mexican Workers at Pkc
- CTM Threatens Independent Workers Center with Violence
- Around 400 Workers Will Lose Their Jobs as Johnson Controls Announces Closure of Puebla Plant
- CTM Victory at VW Plant—legitimate or Protection Contract?
- Mexican Agricultural Workers in Canada Join UFCW
- Mexican Labor Law Professors and Lawyers Demand That Supreme Court Respect Freedom of Workers to Select Union Leaders
- Bosses Say Violence Has Closed 160,000 Firms; Government Denies Claim
- Strike at Estrella Blue Jeans Plant in Coahuila into Ninth Month
- Ken Georgetti Flags Abuses of Trade Union Rights in Mexico
- IMF Condemns Attempts to Criminalize SME's Labor Struggle
- Labor Shorts: SANDAK Strike Legal; University of Sonora Workers Strike
- Social Statistics
- Upcoming Events: International Tribunal in Mexico; May 1 and Labor Notes in Chicago
- Resources
- Police Kill Three Student Protestors in Struggle to Preserve Rural Teachers' Colleges
- From Plantón to Occupy: Unions and Immigrants in the Occupy Movement
- UNI Global Union Supports Atento Workers in Mexico
- Workers at Volkswagen Supplier Fired for Opposing CTM Union Leader
- Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico Face Threats, Violence
About Mexican Labor News & Analysis
Staff: Editor, Dan La Botz. Editor, Dan La Botz. Managing editor, Robin Alexander.
Mexican Labor News and Analysis (MLNA) is produced in collaboration with the Authentic Labor Front, Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) of Mexico and the United Electrical Workers (UE) of the United States. For many of our stories, we rely on La Jornada's excellent labor and social movement coverage. We also, of course, look at other Mexican and U.S. media, but most important is the coverage of La Jornada to which we constantly refer and which we frequently summarize in our articles.
In recognizing our sources, articles by David Bacon and John Ross periodically enliven our pages and less frequently, though no less appreciated, are pieces by Fred Rosen. We also appreciate IRC's willingness to allow us to include articles by Laura Carlsen, director of the IRC Americas Program in Mexico City and occasionally by other IRC contributors. Most important, our collaborators in the Authentic Labor Front (FAT) keep us updated about the FAT's organizing campaigns and other activities. The Solidarity Center in Mexico kindly sends us regular mailings dealing with labor unions and other issues. We also receive mailings on important issues from CITTAC in Tijuana, from Enlace, and others. Occasionally some of our readers travel to Mexico and send us reports regarding other developments.
This web site includes Archives of Mexican Labor News and Analysis issues that date from 1996 to the present.
