Mexican Labor News & Analysis

PAN and PRI Work to Disqualify Lopez Obrador

The National Action Party (PAN) of President Vicente Fox and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) led by Roberto Madrazo continue to work to disqualify Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) from running for president of Mexico in the 2006 election. Polls have shown López Obrador to be the leading candidate in the race.

The PAN and PRI are working to strip López Obrador of official immunity so that he can be tried on felony charges for ignoring a court order to desist from constructing a road connecting a hospital to a major highway. If he is facing criminal charges, he would be ineligible to run for office under the Mexican Constitution.

López Obrador and his administration have been the focus of attention since March when a videotape showed his finance secretary Gustavo Ponce gambling large sums in Las Vegas while another showed his former aid René Bejarano accepting money from businessman Carlos Ahumada who had received city government contracts.

Business organizations have attacked López Obrador for his failure to deal with crime. Several months ago they organized a mass march in Mexico City protesting his failure to provide security.

Nevertheless, López Obrador remains very popular with Mexico City’s residents because of his construction projects, health programs, and his small grants to the elderly. Working class people in Mexico City frequently comment that other governments took everything for themselves, but he has given money to the poor and the aged.
[See: James C. McKinley Jr. and Antonio Betancourt, “Mexico City Mayor Faces Move to Lift His Immunity,” New York Times, October 31, 2004.]

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Teachers Union Forms Political Party: New Alliance Party

The Mexican Teachers Union, which is run by Elba Esther Gordillo, has called upon its members to join the New Alliance Party (Nueva Alianza) which will run a presidential candidate and other candidates in the 2006 election. Union leaders suggest it may run Jorge Castañeda, former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the government of Vicente Fox of the National Action Party; or Jorge Ramón de la Fuente, former rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); or Marta Sahagún, former press secretary and now wife of president Fox.

Gordillo, who has dominated the teachers union for years, was recently driven out of leadership positions in the PRI due to her close ties and advocacy for the program of the PAN.

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New Pemexgate Alleged; Pemex Deal With Oil Workers Union

Mexican legislators and journalists allege that a contract between PEMEX, the Mexican government-owned oil company, and the Mexican Petroleum Workers Union (STPRM), represents another “Pemexgate” scandal. Pemexgate refers to illegal contributions made by PEMEX and the STPRM to the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate in the 2000 presidential elections.

The current scandal involves a contract between PEMEX and the STPRM for 7.7 billion pesos. (US1.00=11.4 Mexican pesos). The contract was negotiated between Raúl Muños Leos, head of PEMEX, and Carlos Romero Deschamps, leader of the petroleum workers union.

Saúl Escobar of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) said, “The repetition of Pemexgate is the clearest example of the prolongation of the old regime by President Vicente Fox.”

The contract should provide benefits such as housing to oil company workers. Critics allege irregularities in the contract.

The allegations led Secretary of Energy Elizondo Fernando and other Mexican officials to become involved in an attempt to clarify and rectify the PEMEX-STPRM agreement. So far no criminal charges have been brought.

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Mexican Mine Workers Union Wins Strike For Stock

The Mexican Mine Workers Union (SNTMMSRM) won a strike carried out in mid-October at the Cananea and La Caridad mines and other facilities. The union, headed by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, was demanding that the mine owners, Mexicana del Cobre, a subsidiary of Group Mexico headed by Jorge Larrea, pay the equivalent of 5 percent of the value of the company’s stock (or equity) as negotiated some 15 years ago when the company was privatized.

The employer at first refused to pay, and the Labor Board (JFCA) refused to declare the strike either legal or illegal as a way to pressure the workers to return to the mines. The Mexican government sent arbitrators to meet with the parties.

After several days of job actions and then full-scale walkouts at both mines and nearby foundries, the company relented and agreed to pay the union the 5 percent of stock value, according to published accounts.

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Mexican Artists Oppose Building of Wal-Mart at City of Gods

Since mid-October, Mexican artists, writers, and intellectuals have organized a campaign to stop Wal-Mart from opening a store near Teotihuacan, “the city of the Gods,” the great ancient cultural center famous for its pyramids. Many other sectors of Mexican society also oppose the store, seeing it as an affront to the indigenous culture of Mexico.

The group has written an open letter to President Vicente Fox arguing that the Wal-Mart, now Mexico’s largest private sector employer, should not be permitted to build its store so close to the famous archaeological site.

"Teotihuacan is for Mexicans our greatest cultural heritage, an expression of our history and our identity as a people and nation," reads the letter.

The building of the Wal-Mart at Teotihuacan is like "driving the stake of globalization into the heart of Mexican antiquity," said poet and environmental activist Homero Aridjis, one of the organizers of the petition campaign. "We're afraid it would open the door to more development ... McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken,” he added. Other signers include painter Francisco Toledo and novelist Laura Esquivel.

The discount store, scheduled to open by December, is one kilometer (more than half a mile) from the Teotihuacan park and its 2,000-year-old ruins. The United Nations has designated Teotihuacan a World Heritage Site.

"What's next?" said David García, 27, whose family owns a dry-goods store in the market. "It's like having Mickey Mouse on the top of the Pyramid of the Moon."

The campaign against the Teotihucan Wal-Mart has been accompanied by hunger strikes, protests, and call for a boycott of the multinational corporation.

The Mexican government has not responded to the campaign, and the store’s construction is now nearly completed. Wal-Mart has legal permission to build the store.

(For more information see the story at walmartsucks.com http://forum.walmartsucks.com/sutra101855.html&sid=6da92c91b34a9c42df439e711ef98633)

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FLOC, U.S. Labor Union, To Open Office In Mexico For Migrants

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (AFL-CIO), a farm workers union based in Toledo, Ohio, will soon open offices in Mexico to register its union members there who are being brought to work in the United States under H2A visas.

Baldemar Velásquez, president of FLOC, announced at a press conference in Mexico in early October that the union would be opening an office in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in northern Mexico for workers going to work in North Carolina. The office will work to protect workers’ seniority and inform them of their labor rights.

Velasquez explained that FLOC’s role as a labor union with some activities in Mexico grew out of the contract with Mount Olive Pickle Company and other growers which was signed on September 16, bringing 8,000 workers under union contract. Under the new contract these workers will earn US$8.05 per hour. This is the first such contract of its kind covering H2A workers.

As a labor union operating in Mexico, FLOC will have to register with the Mexican labor authorities.

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Victory At Sara Lee; Company Agrees To Neutrality

In response to a four-year joint campaign by Enlace and SEDEPAC, two workers’ rights groups, Sara Lee, one of the global leaders of the corporate movement for “a union free environment” has agreed to employer neutrality. The agreement provides for freedom of association and freedom from harassment for workers organizing their own independent union in Coahuila, Mexico.

The policy shift by Sara Lee is believed to be the first labor neutrality commitment by a transnational corporation operating maquiladora factories in Mexico.

In a letter dated October 20, 2004, Sara Lee’s Deputy General Counsel, R. Henry Kleeman, stated in part, “Our diverse workforce at Monclova #1 (Frontera) included employees who supported a number of different labor organizations and non-governmental organizations. All of these former employees at Monclova #1 are welcome to apply for employment at Monclova #2 (Monclova). Consistent with our Global Business Standards, employees at Monclova #2 may freely choose to belong, or not to belong, to a union of their choice and engage in lawful activities on behalf of that union without fear of retaliation. Sara Lee will not discriminate in hiring, firing or other personnel decisions against any job applicant or employee based on union affiliation or other lawful exercises of associational rights. All Sara Lee employees, including managers and supervisors, have a duty to abide by these policies, and as our Global Business Standards make clear, failure to comply with these principles will result in appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

The letter was written to the Worker Rights Consortium, a group that has served as one of a few key intermediaries in communications with Sara Lee. Other groups also helped the workers win the agreement.

After worldwide attention was drawn to Sara Lee's abusive treatment of the workers
at its plant in Frontera, Coahuila, the company closed the plant. In response to escalating outcries for justice, Sara Lee agreed to hire the 10 publicly known Frontera worker leaders at its nearby Monclova plant, to re-employ 200 Frontera workers by seniority at the Monclova plant, and to pay all the Frontera workers a just severance. While this is an important breakthrough for the workers, this agreement has not been fully implemented.

[The above story provided by Enlace.]

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SITESABES Update: Teacher Tours US, Legal and Organizational Developments

As we previously reported, SITESABES is an independent union of adult education workers which, with the assistance of the FAT, has been fighting to gain the right to represent approximately 1,000 adult education workers in high schools and universities. The workers are employed by a state-funded program in the State of Guanajuato, called SABES.

This struggle is of particular significance to Mexican workers because the state government has engaged in a series of maneuvers to cancel the registration of the new union, depriving it of the legal authority to represent workers required under Mexican law. If the government succeeds, this tactic will have ominous implications for all workers seeking to establish real, democratic unions.

Through the FAT, these workers have excellent legal representation and we recently reported that they had won a decision from a three-member appeals court. The case was sent back to the labor court for reconsideration on the two technical issues that stood between SITESABES and the legal right to represent the SABES workers. The decision of the appeals court was an extremely positive development. Unfortunately, the lower court judge re-asserted his decision, apparently without considering either the order of the higher court or the additional materials that had been submitted. SITESABES has therefore been forced once again to file an appeal to the three-member appeals court.

Meanwhile, a very positive result was reached in the first of the cases of the fired union activists to be decided: not only was she ordered reinstated with full back pay, but she also was awarded full benefits -- 40 day’ bonus, 30 days’ vacation and credits in the savings (SAR) and housing (INFONAVIT) programs from 1997, when she was hired. This is a major victory, and will serve as an important precedent in the up-coming cases. The board has finally begun to set hearing dates for those: three are scheduled for November 13; four for November 27th and the remainder are expected to be scheduled soon.

Although we have received word that SABES complied with the decision, it then turned around and immediately fired her again. This is not surprising, as it is unlikely that there will be a positive resolution regarding the fired union activists without a resolution of their demand for representation.

However, it certainly appears that victory is very possible if the workers can sustain their struggle for the time it will take to complete the legal process. A number of organizations have stepped forward to support these workers. The Canadian Steel Workers have made a particularly generous contribution.

During the last week in September, the UE organized a short tour for Raul Cisneros Porras, one of the fired workers. NAFFE and ENLACE worked with UE in organizing events in the Boston area, where NAFFE presently a check for $500. Mr. Cisneros also spoke in Ithaca at the Second Labor Round Table and at a wonderful event organized by student organizations at Cornell, as well as at events in Burlington and Montpelior, Vermont. He was especially moved when workers at the Hunger Mountain Coop which had been recently organized by UE presented him with a check for $500.

In addition to raising over $3,000 for SITESABES on the tour, Raul Cisneros was able to make some important connections with teachers unions. He was particularly excited by the discussion with the New York State United Teachers and New York Labor-Religion Coalition who proposed an exchange with SITESABES, and look forward to building a deeper relationship.

The financial support and solidarity expressed on the trip were particularly important, because Cisneros returned home to find that on October 10 and 12th, another three union activists were fired, bringing the total to 17. Outraged students took over their classrooms, shutting down the school, until calmer heads prevailed. They returned to class on the 25th wearing bracelets that say “reinstate my professor!”

And so the struggle continues!

Financial contributions may be made to SITESABES by making a check out to the UE-FAT Solidarity Fund, and sending it to UE, One Gateway Center, Suite 1400, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1416. Please be sure to indicate that your contribution is for SITESABES.

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Pung Kook: A New Kind Of Victory

Maquiladora workers in Baja California Sur recently wrestled a historic victory from the Korean transnational corporation Pung Kook.

Working for less than the Mexican minimum wage, Pung Kook workers labored under sweatshop conditions making luggage and backpacks for Adidas, Land’s End and Patagonia. They were working to form an independent union in Baja California Sur, The Independent Union of Workers of the Maquiladora Industry (SINTTIM - el Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de la Industria Maquiladora.)

In March of 2003, after firing SINTTIM President, Raquel Espinoza, for organizing, Pung Kook shut down its factory in Mexico without properly compensating the workers. The corporation then moved all of its business operations to Asia, beyond the reach of Mexican law and NAFTA. Under Mexican labor law, the workers were entitled to three months pay plus 32 days pay for each year of service. Pung Kook, like virtually all its counterparts in Mexico, paid only a fraction of that. SINTTIM asked Enlace to coordinate a campaign to force Pung Kook to pay the balance of monies owed to the workers.

Enlace and SINTTIM created a synchronized action campaign plan to gain justice for the Pung Kook workers. Since the corporation no longer had a foothold in North America, it was decided to pressure one of Pung Kook’s North American customers to induce them to help force the transnational to pay the workers.

With the help of Portland Jobs with Justice and the Cross Border Organizing Labor Coalition (CBLOC), Enlace organized support to confront Adidas America at its headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Adidas contacted Enlace and expressed an interest in avoiding this confrontation. Enlace knew, through member organization Koreatown Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA), that Pung Kook still manufactured items for Adidas at its Singapore plant. After a series of discussions, Adidas agreed to bring pressure on Pung Kook to pay SINTTIM’s members what they were owed.

In September 2003, Enlace organized a meeting in Mexico City between Gilberto Piñeda Bañuelos of SINTTIM, internationally renowned Mexican labor lawyer Arturo Alcalde, Enlace staff, and representatives of Adidas Mexico and Adidas America. Adidas committed to pressure Pung Kook to compensate the workers properly.

But pressure from Adidas wasn’t enough to compel Punk Kook to do the right thing.

Enlace sought support of members and allies in Canada, Mexico and the United States to pressure Pung Kook and the state government that allowed the company to shortchange the workers. Hundreds of members and allies responded to this call for support by sending faxes and e-mails.

Finally, on June 17, 2004 Enlace organized a synchronized action that included a delegation to the South Korean consulate in Los Angeles and a demonstration in front of the South Korean embassy in Mexico City as well as two public actions in Seoul, South Korea. At the same time, the workers organized a delegation to pressure the governor of Baja California Sur. These actions resulted in extensive press coverage in Korea and in the Korean-American and Latino media in Southern California, organized by KIWA. The Korean consulate in Los Angeles committed to request the government of Korea to open an investigation into Pung Kook’s practices. All these actions took place as negotiations continued.

The synchronized actions worked. On August 20, 2004, Pung Kook agreed to a settlement. The agreement will bring the total compensation for the 219 laid off workers to 3 months salary plus 32 days pay per year of service. Pung Kook also agreed to pay union president Raquel Espinoza $10,000 U.S. for firing her unjustly and to give her the company's 40-passenger bus which will be used by the union. Pung Kook temporarily returned to Mexico to set up a bank account so that the workers can be properly compensated.

Mexican labor lawyer Arturo Alcalde enthusiastically called the agreement an historical first.

The Pung Kook campaign success demonstrates that corporations can be held accountable for their behavior in regard to workers and their communities no matter where in the world they may shift production

Credit belongs to all who participated and contributed to the success of the campaign, including the following:

· Most of all, the SINTTIM members who never gave up and who forced a renegade transnational corporation to do the right thing

· Mexico: El Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT); Servicio Desarrollo y Paz (SEDEPAC); Lic. Arturo Alcalde; Casa de la Mujer Factor X de Tijuana

· Canada: The Maquiladora Solidarity Network

· Seoul, South Korea: The Korean House for International Solidarity, including MiKyoung Cha and JaeHun Choi

· California: Koreatown Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA), including Danny Park, Aehwa Kim and Cindy Cho; Los Angeles Garment Workers Center, including Joann Lo; Bus Riders Union; Sweatshop Watch, the One Korea LA Forum; SEIU Local 535; LAANE; CAN; SEIU Local 1877; HERE Local 2; Teamsters Local Union 912

· Portland: Jobs with Justice; Cross Border Organizing Labor Coalition (CBLOC); International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union; Communications Workers of America; Gregg Nebel of Adidas America; SEIU local 49

· Enlace Staff: Mary Mendez (lead), Veronica Carrizales, Peter Cervantes-Gautschi and Meagan Keefe

· Washington: Teamsters Local Union 556; Walla Walla and Pasco ACORN

· Louisiana: SEIU Local 100

· Washington, D.C.: Heewon Khym; Workers Rights Consortium

· The many individuals and allies who responded to requests for faxes and emails to key players.

[The above story thanks to Enlace.]

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Women Activists Discuss Sexual Harassment In Maquilas

Women activists from non-governmental organizations in Mexico, Guatemala and the United States met at the “Aguascalientes Zapata Lives!” center in the Maclovio Rojas community in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico in late September to discuss strategies for dealing with sexual harassment in the maquiladoras.
Sexual harassment can be found both in Tijuana maquiladoras and in California’s sweatshops employing immigrant workers, according to Connie García of the Binational Feminist Collective. “We have documented cases of similar exploitation in maquiladoras and garment shops on both sides of the border, cases that have to do with sexual harassment, abuse of labor rights, and even cases of employers who give out drugs to get workers through long days without rest.”

Margarita Avalos, of the Information Center for Workers (CITTAC) said that workers’ health issues were also a concern, since workers suffer exposures to toxic chemicals in many workplaces.
Avalos criticized the Mexican labor authorities, who either do not respond to women’s concerns or if they do, take years to hand down a judgment.

Carmen Valadez, of the Bi-national Feminist Collective said that at the meeting women workers discussed the problems facing women factory workers, as well as strategies for addressing them, such as community health and rights promoters.

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Workers At Delphi-Reynosa Wary Of Company Plan

October 28, 2004

The transfer of two entire shifts at Delphi’s plant #3 to two other nearby facilities has gripped the attention of workers at Delphi Delco Electronics in Reynosa, a Mexican border town.

Delphi workers in Reynosa have been on alert since July of this year, when management announced plans for what they’re calling “a transplant — picking up the whole operation and putting it somewhere else.” For Delphi’s production workers, this new development only added to the concerns that erupted into protests in the spring of 2004.

The Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO—Border Committee of Women Workers) has been conducting an intensive campaign of outreach, including training sessions with dozens of workers, to explain their rights under Mexico’s labor law and to analyze the impact of what is known officially as "plant consolidation." The workers are preparing to confront possible company violations of their legal rights in the consolidation process.

Workers had already raised their concerns with plant supervisors about the harassment and firing of workers who participated in two marches — one last March and one on May Day, the international workers holiday. This concern was also communicated in writing three times to Delphi’s headquarters in Troy, Michigan and Kokomo, Indiana by faith-based organizations that support the workers and own company stocks, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Mercy Consolidated Program, and the Benedictine Sisters.

Delphi denies the firings were an act of retaliation against the demonstrators, but at both marches, participants saw company guards following and videotaping them, even though the protests took place at community locations — the main municipal plaza and local union offices — that are at some distance away from plant facilities.

The workers’ demands are targeting not only Delphi, but also the pro-corporate, undemocratic leadership of the CTM, the main official union body in Mexico (the initials stand for Confederación de Trabajadores Mexicanos, or Mexican Workers Confederation). In essence, the CTM functions like a company union.

In response, the rank and file has challenged union leadership at the local level, forcing it to hold open elections. Through this process, independent delegates have been democratically elected to local union bodies known as sectional committees. These independent union officers promote more democratic practices on the shop floor; along with the rank-and-file membership, they are also working toward freeing themselves from the CTM. The CTM, meanwhile, fails to genuinely represent the interests of its membership, but remains in control of administering the union contract. Today, under pressure, the CTM tries to look as if it were defending the workers’ interests, saying it is negotiating the plant consolidation as best it can.

The workers have also sent letters to all U.S. unions with Delphi contracts, asking them to share the latest news from Reynosa with their union locals. The United Auto Workers has responding by formally asking Delphi to respond to the concerns of the Mexican workers.

The uncertainty on the production lines, the frustration voiced by hundreds of workers, and the formal communications from shareholders and U.S. unions have persuaded Delphi to offer some answers. During a visit to Reynosa in August 2004, a delegation of shareholders toured Delphi’s plant #6, accompanied by a CFO representative, to evaluate the company’s responses for themselves. A few weeks later Delphi provided additional information in writing regarding its plans, commenting on how it would address the workers' concerns.

The crux of the matter is how the workers will be affected by the plant consolidation. Workers from both shifts at plant #3 have been offered the opportunity to move to plants #5 and #6, with no change in job assignment, seniority, benefits, or wages. In addition, the second shift's 580 workers will be offered an extra cash bonus of 10,000 pesos (US $885) because their new shift, the so-called “ninth” shift, will change.

Even so, the plant consolidation will result in a net reduction in take-home pay, due to the loss of overtime. Currently, the second shift works four nights of 12.5 hours each; because overtime pay is required under Mexican law for workdays longer than 10 hours, this yields more income than the new schedule, with five days of nine hours each. Delphi will add a shift differential of 20 pesos per week, but the workers will still lose pay.

Another negative impact will result from the greater distance; plant #3 is more than 10 km (6 miles) from plants #5 and #6. Because of traffic and bus transfers, for some workers the move will add an extra hour each way of travel time. (Company information states that the average increase will be 15 minutes.) The extra buses will also increase the workers’ out-of-pocket expenses, resulting in a loss of another 10 percent of their already meager wages. The bottom line is that the consolidation will entail lower wages for many workers. The $885 cash bonus will only compensate for the loss in wages during the first year.

Delphi is offering two options to the workers: (1) to transfer voluntarily without loss of seniority or benefits, or (2) to accept a severance package with rehiring rights. As usual, the devil is in the details. For example, Delphi will offer severance payments as required by Mexican law, paying 90 days’ wages (article 48 of the labor code) plus 20 additional days for each year of work completed plus a seniority premium made up of 12 days pay per year worked. In reality, however, the maquiladoras often look for ways to avoid paying the full amount of severance, and the workers want to make sure Delphi is calculating their payments correctly.

Depending on the situation of each individual, other payments may also be included, such as a vacation premium for workers who have not taken their allotted vacation time, a portion of the annual Christmas bonus, or a portion of the annual profit-sharing payment that Mexican companies are supposed to distribute. The calculations of these items not only vary from worker to worker, they can also change significantly depending on specific union contracts, which may stipulate payments either above or below what it is required by Mexico’s Federal Labor Law.

Some workers have misunderstood the transfer, which the company calls a “consolidation plan,” as a “readjustment of personnel.” If this were the case, a separate clause of the labor code would apply, resulting in an extra month of severance. However, Delphi skillfully framed the consolidation so that it is not legally reducing its workforce. In other words, Delphi can maintain it is not laying people off, which allows it to sign individual termination agreements with each employee. The corporate plan is that the workers will accept their termination (and the resulting severance package) of their own free will, with the understanding that he or she has voluntarily refused the job offered in plants #5 and #6.

Through their sustained pressure on both Delphi and the CTM, the workers have already won a partial victory, in that the company has not been imposing its decisions arbitrarily, as often happens in maquiladoras where the workers are unaware of their legal rights or have not been organized by the CFO. Lately, Delphi has been improving internal communications with its workforce. It has also tried to ease some problems affecting the workers, such as negotiating with the local bus lines to provide increased service to plants #5 and #6.

Nonetheless, the most crucial issues for the workers, such as the loss of purchasing power or the intimidation of those pressing for union democratization — or even independent unions — have not been addressed. These issues will remain in the forefront for the Delphi workforce and the CFO.

[The above article taken from the CFO website at: http://www.cfomaquiladoras.org/english%20site/aboutcfo.englsh.html]

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Social Statistics

Maquiladora Sector

The Mexican maquiladora sector added 800 new plants this year, bringing the workfroce to 1.3 million workers, according to a recent statement by Mexican president Vicente Fox.

Mexican maquiladora business executives say that there has been more investment in medical, aerospace, auto and high-tech electronics.

Employment

Mexico lost 223,000 jobs in the formal economy since President Vicente Fox took office, according to the Mexican Secretary of Labor (STPS).

However the Workers University of Mexico (UOM) claims that Mexico has lost 500,000 jobs during the same period (2000-2003).

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Resources

David Fairris and Edward Levine, “Declining Union Density in Mexico: 1984-2000,” in Monthly Labor Review, September 2004, 10-17. Abstract: “Since the mid-1980s,Mexico has witnessed a significant decline in unionization; changing industry occupation, and demographic worker characteristics account for only about one-fourth of the decline, while structural and institutional changes account for three-fourths.”
At: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2004/09/art2full.pdf

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