March 2, 1998 Vol. III, No. 5
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About Mexican Labor News and Analysis
Mexican Labor News and Analysis is produced in collaboration with the Authentic
Labor Front
(Frente Autentico del Trabajo - FAT) of Mexico and with the United Electrical
Workers (UE) of
the United States and is published the 2nd and 16th of every month.
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The UE Home Page which displays Mexican Labor News and Analysis has an INDEX
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Staff: Editor, Dan La Botz; Correspondents in Mexico: Bob Briggs, Peter
Gellert, Jess Kincaid,
Wendy Patterson, Jorge Robles, Juan-Carlos Romero, Fred Rosen, Don Sherman,
Sam Smucker,
Linda Stevenson.
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Part I
by Dan La Botz
Wildcat strikes by several thousand railroad workers, beginning in the northern
border state of
Sonora, have paralyzed freight and passenger movements on the Pacific-North
Railroad line for
the last two weeks, and have affected other railways as well. The wildcat
strike movement, which
has not yet been stopped or settled, is a response to the privatization
of the state-owned railroad,
the failure of the new owners to re-hire the railroad workers, the state's
threatened cancellation of
the workers' collective bargaining agreement, and company chiseling on severance
pay.
Railroad workers, supported by their families, entire working class communities,
students,
non-governmental organizations and local social movement activists have
taken engines and cars
out of service and have blockaded or destroyed railroad track in order to
keep the trains from
moving. The workers' strikes and protests have spread from Sonora to several
other states, mostly
in western and northern Mexico. The Sonora governor, legislature, and local
mayors have been
drawn into the conflict, as have the three major national political parties.
This could become
another major Mexican political crisis.
"Sonora has the best conditions for resisting," Salvador Zarco
of the Committee to Defend the
Collective Contract, an opposition caucus in the Railroad Workers Union
(STFRM) told Mexican
Labor News and Analysis in a telephone interview. "They have the support
of the miners, of the
telephone workers, of the social security workers, of the teachers, of peasant
organizations, of the
Yaqui Indians who have their own local government, as well as of municipal
authorities, the
governor and the state legislature."
A Break with the Logic of Reform from Above
This railroad strike--involving thousands of workers in several states--represents
one of the most
important workers' movements in recent Mexican history, certainly since
the early 1980s, perhaps
since the "workers insurgency" of the 1970s. A movement from below
of railroad workers, led by
rebellious local union officials, this strike breaks completely with the
logic of recent labor
movement developments.
While Mexican labor union officials and political activists have been engaged
in a struggle
between rival "official," reformist, and radical labor federations
(the Congress of Labor,
Confederation of Mexican Workers, National Union of Workers and May First
Inter-Union
Coordinating Committee), suddenly a rank and file movement has erupted from
below,
challenging not only the state-party controlled union, but also implicitly
challenging the idea of
reform through reorganization from above.
A Grass-Roots Movement
The strike of Pacific-North, one of Mexico's principal railroad lines, began
on Feb. 16 in Local 8
of the Mexican Railroad Workers Union. Local 8 union leaders in Empalme
called a general
assembly where workers, most of them men in their mid- 40s, decided to shut
down the system.
Approximately 3,200 railroad workers in the cities of Nogales, Benjamin
Hill, Hermosillo and Empalme then stopped company operations. Empalme is
the headquarters of the company's
operations, an important railroad center, and has the largest number of
Pacific-North workers in
any single location.
In Empalme, the workers, their families, and the towns people--thousands
of men, women and
children--came out to make sure the trains didn't roll. When one train did
try to leave, the crowds
forced the train back to the roundhouse.
The workers were soon joined by members of a local group called the Broad
Front of Social
Organizations (FAOS) and by acrtivists from the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) who
came out to help shut down the freight and passenger service. Ford Motor
company's Hermosillo
auto plant was immediately affected by the shutdown.
The Strikers Initial Demands
One of the workers' local leaders, Jose Guadalupe Esquivel Valenzuela, explained
that the
railroad workers decided to strike in order to protest the company's failure
to make the bi-weekly
payroll and to pay severance pay.
But he said, they also struck because of a decision to be made by the Board
of Conciliation and
Arbitration, Number Four, in the Federal District, which was to decide on
February 18 whether or
not the workers' collective bargaining agreement was to continue in force
or to be nullified.
Workers argued that under the Federal Labor Law (LFT), Article 41, the new
company must
continue to abide by the old contract which remains in force. But the state
company claimed that
the old collective bargaining agreement would terminate the day the company
passed into the
hands of its new owners.
While the collective bargaining agreement was central, it became clear within
a few days that the
workers' key demand was that the railroad's new owners rehire all railroad
workers previously
employed by the state-owned company.
Privatization
The strike results from the privatization of the Mexican National Railways
(FERRONALES)
which began two years ago. On March 7, 1997, a new private company called
Mexican Railways
(FERROMEX) bought the state's Pacific-North railway line for 524 million
dollars.
The new company, FERROMEX, is a corsortium made up of several Mexican and
foreign
parties. Jorge Larrea Ortega, the mogul who owns Mexicana de Cananea and
Mexicana de Cobre,
two of Mexico's largest copper companies, is the principal figure in the
Grupo Mexico, which is
the major stock holder in FERROMEX. His partners include Associated Civil
Engineers (ICA),
one of Mexico's biggest construction companies, and the Union Pacific, one
of the largest railroad
companies in the United States. Together these partners form Grupo Ferroviario
Mexicano
(GFM) which in turn owns FERROMEX.
FERROMEX purchased, the Pacific-North, a 6,521 kilometer route which rising
north along
Mexico's Pacific coast, turns east when it nears the U.S. border. Passing
through the western
states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora, the railway turns east through
Chihuahua and
Coahuila. In addition to the track, stations, and roundhouses, the purchase
included 405
locomotives and 12,591 railway cars of various sorts.
At the time of purchase, the line employed approximately 13,000 workers,
members of the
Mexican Railroad Workers Union (STFRM). Some reports suggested that the
company would
only recontract 3,500 workers, forcing the other 9,500 into early retirement
or unemployment.
Local union leaders, union dissidents and workers had been reporting for
weeks that the company
was coercing or cajoling workers to sign voluntary retirement or severance
agreements.
Victor Flores Morales, the authoritarian head of the Railroad Workers Union,
has been an
unconditional supporter of the Mexican government's policy of privatization,
and a willing partner
with the new private owners in carrying out layoffs, re-writing collective
bargaining agreements,
and disciplining workers who resisted the state or the company. Until recently,
a handful of
dissident railroad workers have opposed him in the face of sometimes violent
repression. Now,
however, the state, the company and Flores Morales are faced with a mass
movement from below.
Why a Strike in Sonora?
Few strikes are really spontaneous. Organization precedes most activity,
and so it was in this
case. Two years ago, explained Salvador Zarco, a group of dissident railroad
workers formed the
Committee for the Defense of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, to fight
to defend the
workers' union, contract, and jobs during the process of privatization.
Last November, the group
organized a caravan involving as many as 2,000 railroad workers which marched
and rode from
Nogales, Sonora to Guadaljara, Jalisco.
The purpose of the caravan was to talk with and distribute information to
Sonora's railroad
workers about the privatization process. For example, on the North East
line, bought by the
Transportes Ferroviarios Mexicanos (TFM), with the participation of the
U.S. corporation Kansas
City Industries, the company rehired only 4,500 out of 8,700 workers. The
collective bargaining
agreement was reduced from 3,045 clauses to 38 clauses; the train crews
cut from six to three
workers; and the maximum continuous service time lengthened from 12 to 25-40
hours.
After hearing from the caravan's organizers, workers on the North-Pacific
line could see the
handwriting on the wall. Then they learned that their new owners would reportedly
only rehire
2,500 out of 13,500 workers. The organization by the opposition group in
the union laid the basis
for the wildcat strike movement by the local activists.
Industrial Workers with Real Power
The railroad workers have real economic power in this struggle. Northern
Mexico, particularly
Sonora, has been an important industrial area for more than a hundred years,
with thousands of
miners, foundry and smelter workers, and railroad workers. But during the
last two decades,
largely because of the proximity of the U.S. border and investments by U.S.
corporations, a whole
northern industrial region has been created which includes not only the
thousands of maquiladoras
on the U.S.-Mexican border, but also major auto plants. Many of these plants
depend on railroad
transportation.
The strike immediately affected operations not only at Ford Motor Company,
but also at some
of Mexico's industrial giants, such as CEMEX (Mexican Cement Company), Gamesa,
Aceites del
Mayo, Mexicana de Cananea, and Mexicana de Cobre. In addition, thousands
of passengers found
themselves stranded in Sonora, with local city governments scrambling to
find them blankets and
food.
The wildcat strike on the Pacific-North line has also had an indirect impact
on workers on other
lines such as Transportes Ferroviarios Mexicanos (TFM) to the east. Trains
carrying containers
on that line, bound for the General Motors plant in Arizpe, Coahuila were
temporarily sidelined.
The strike also reportedly affected the General Electric plant in Silao.
Workers Threatened with Prison
The Mexican government and the employers have forced some railroad workers
back, but
without effectively breaking the strike. The government brought charges
against the workers of
Local 8 for the felony of "obstruction of general ways of communication."
Those and other
pressures led the workers of Empalme to return to work with a local agreement
last Wednesday,
Feb. 25. But at the same time, workers in Local 40 in Benjamin Hill stopped
the trains, with the
same result--still nothing moves on the Pacific-North line.
Mexican authorities reportedly dispatched a military train to the north.
No serious violence
between the army or police and the strikers has been reported so far.
The Strike Spreads
In Sonora, the strikers won the support of local governments. The PRD mayor
Jesus Avila
Godoy of Empalme, and mayor Sara Valle Dessens of Guaymas, expressed their
solidarity with
the strike. Local merchants also supported the railroad workers. The governor
of Sonora and the
Sonora legislature also came out in support of the workers.
The strike also quickly spread far beyond Sonora. The strike in Sonora had
the effect of stopping
and backing up trains throughout the system, and from other systems as well.
Learning of the
strike in Sonora, workers in the states of Sinaloa and Jalisco held meetings,
engaged in sit-ins,
demonstrations, and other forms of protest.
In Aguascalientes, workers demanded to be rehired. Some seventy machinists'
helpers said they
would fix the machines so they wouldn't work if everyone didn't get their
job back. In Ciudad
Juarez, workers met in "permanent assembly," while waiting to
see that everyone was re-hired.
They said they want protection for all workers, especially those over 50
years old.
In Mexico City, 200 members of the dissident National Coordinating Committee
for Defense of
the Collective Contract, marched and demonstrated in support of Local 8.
Leaders of the dissident
movement, Enrique Oropeza and Francisco Zarco, called for the expulsion
from the union of
Victor Flores. The alliance between the Committee for Defense of the Contract
and the Local 8
strikers represents an important development, giving the worker activists
in Sonora a connection
to the union's opposition caucus in Mexico City.
Victor Flores Signs New Contract
Three days after the strike began, the Railroad Workers Union leader, Victor
Flores Morales,
told workers that like it or not, they would have to accept their severance
or retirement, before
they could be rehired by the new company.
Flores Morales also signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the
company, in which
he claimed to have saved most of the workers' conditions. The contract provided
for a 15 percent
wage increase, with the possibility of 40 percent in productivity bonuses,
life insurance for
workers, and scholarships for railroad workers' children. In terms of conditions,
the company
wanted a four man crew, but the new contract calls for a "complete
crew" of six, that is, a
machinist, assistant machinist, conductor and three brakemen.
Secretary of Labor Javier Bonilla praised the new contract, "for embodying
the concepts of the
new labor culture," of employer-union cooperation. The Secretary of
Communication and
Transportation, Carlos Ruiz also praised the contract as promoting the development
of a safe,
efficient and modern transportation system.
Workers in Local 8 in Sonora, however, rejected the new contact as another
betrayal. Carlos
Figueroa Ramos, the STFRM Local 8 leader told the press that the workers'
job security, remains
"an unfulfilled promise." Local 8 has demanded that the new collective
bargaining agreement must
protect the jobs of all 13,500 workers. Workers in Local 40 now continue
the strike.
Now, after two weeks of the workers' wildcat strikes, the Mexican legislature
and the national
parties, particularly the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution
and the conservative
National Action Party have been drawn into attempts to resolve the issues.
###
GOVERNMENT, PRESS LAUNCH ANTI-FOREIGN CAMPAIGN
by Peter Gellert
With immediate term prospects for peace in Chiapas rapidly fading, a mounting
campaign is
underway against the presence of foreign observers and politically conscious
tourists for allegedly
exacerbating the conflict.
Since the Chiapas rebellion began in January 1994 and especially since the
massacre of 45
defenseless Indian peasants this past December 22, thousands of foreign
visitors have poured into
Chiapas. Last week, more than 200 European and Canadian human rights observers
arrived in the
state to obtain first-hand knowledge of the situation.
Foreign observers, in addition to highlighting the Mexican government's
isolation on an
international plane and providing the troops for the solidarity movement
abroad, have played an
important role as a buffer against further military repression of indigenous
communities. As such,
they are undoubtedly a thorn in the government's side.
International Red Cross Expelled
Indeed, for the past two weeks, the government and pro-government media
have been on a
campaign footing, charging that many of the foreign observers and tourists
are intervening in
Mexican politics, thus violating the country's national sovereignty and
should be expelled.
The International Red Cross has been forced to abandon Chiapas since mid-January
at the
request of the Mexican Red Cross. The Mexico representative of the international
relief
organization, Philippe Gaillard, termed the decision "regrettable,"
and said that providing
humanitarian aid to displaced refugees is not a form of interference in
Mexican domestic political
affairs.
The opening shot in this new strategy came from none other than president
Ernesto Zedillo
himself. In a speech three weeks ago, Zedillo said it was inadmissible that
foreigners, under the
cover of humanitarian reasons, be directly involved in the Chiapas conflict.
Foreigners in Rebel Leadership?
A controversial television program last week claimed foreigners were present
in areas held by
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and participated directly
in the rebel
leadership. The popular weekly political magazine PROCESO has charged that
the program was
produced in collaboration with the Interior Ministry.
Part of the controversy has centered on Danielle Mitterand, widow of the
deceased French
president, who had been accused of involvement in Mexican political activities.
National
immigration institute commissioner Alejandro Carrillo Castro said Mitterand
is not barred from
the country, but has been warned.
In the past year more than 200 foreigners have been deported for alleged
political activities in
Chiapas. But in recent days, Mexican immigration agents have taken the unprecedented
step of
stopping tourists in the street, in their hotels, and even in travel agencies,
demanding their
documents and interrogating them at length. Some restaurants and other commercial
establishments in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas are reportedly refusing
service to foreign
tourists who fit the bill for being observers.
On February 18, former Pastor for Peace leader Tom Hansen was detained and
deported, despite
having obtained an injunction. He was not allowed to see a lawyer or call
the U.S. Embassy.
Lopez Obrador: Government Hypocritical
Critics were not impressed by the government stance. The national president
of the Party of the
Democratic Revolution (PRD), Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, expressed a widely-held
view
when he said that the government's approach is "hypocritical."
"They go to Washington and hand
over the nation's wealth, they accept recommendations from the International
Monetary Fund on
economic policy, but when it comes to Chiapas, then they want to look very
nationalistic."
Others charge the campaign is both xenophobic and racist for presuming that
the Indian
population would not be capable of recognizing and fighting for its rights
were it not for the
prodding of foreigners.
Mexicans are, of course, very sensitive on the question of foreign interference
in the country's
domestic affairs, given more than 150 years of virtually non-stop U.S. pressure,
interference, and
intervention. When the Chiapas uprising broke out, the government's first
response was to play
the foreign intervention card, charging the Zaptistas with having foreigners
in their leadership.
When public opinion failed to respond, the powers-that-be rapidly dropped
the issue, and publicly
acknowledge that the rebels were a Mexican movement, with an Indian majority.
Despite a well orchestrated campaign waged daily in the mass media, and
backed by
businessmen, some clerics, the National Action Party (PAN) legislators and
the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) leaders, the Mexican non-governmental organizations
and Chiapas
indigenous groups have successfully repudiated the government's claims and
resisted the attack.
by Jess David Kincaid
Witnesses including workers, labor lawyers, and occupational health and
safety specialists
testified before officials from the U.S. National Administrative Office
(NAO) at a February 18
hearing in San Diego as part of investigations into a complaint regarding
conditions at a Tijuana
maquiladora plant. Korean-owned Han Young de Mexico manufactures truck chassis
for the
multinational Hyundai Precision Motor and is accused of violating the labor
side accord of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by subverting a union organizing
drive as well
as by violating health and safety laws.
The Han Young case is the first time that allegations of health and safety
misconduct have been
brought before the NAO. The investigations result from a complaint filed
last October with the
NAO by a coalition of groups from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada alleging
violations of freedom
of association and the right to organize. Further charges alleging health
and safety violations were
added to the complaint at the end of January by the Support Committee for
Maquiladora
Workers, Southern California WorkSafe!, and the United Steel Workers.
Witnesses described hazardous conditions in a number of areas including
lack of available and
appropriate protective equipment, unsafe machinery, and excessive production
demands. Workers
testified that the union representatives who were charged with defending
their interests were not
to be found inside the factory. Welder Armando Hernandez Roman stated that
when workers
became fed up with unsafe conditions, rather than working through a union
representative they
organized themselves and went to speak with management directly.
In addition to the health and safety concerns, witnesses returned again
and again to the
union-busting techniques employed by Han Young and Mexican labor authorities
to subvert
workers' organizing efforts. Workers, organizers, and labor lawyers described
an on-going
campaign by management including intimidation and bribery, as well as the
refusal of the local
labor board in Tijuana to certify an independent victory after a representation
election in
September.
Management: All Companies Have Problems
In earlier testimony, Ho Young "Pablo" Kang, General Manager at
Han Young, maintained that
the company had done its best to comply with safety codes and had consistently
supplied its
workers with the appropriate equipment. He admitted that government inspections
had found
infractions at the plant, but rebuked the idea that they were serious. "Every
company has
problems," he said.
Reports supplied in the complaint from Mexico's Department of Labor (STPS),
state that 22
health and safety violations were identified in a June 1997 inspection at
Han Young. Afterward
the agency ordered 23 corrective actions to occur at the plant, all within
25 working days. When
the STPS inspected again in September, they found that the company had failed
to comply with
six of these measures. According to a separate survey supplied in the complaint
conducted in
November, the failure by the company to alleviate health and safety hazards
was even more
serious.
Han Young workers identified 11 of the original problems found by the government
inspections
as continuing to remain unabated. According to the North American Agreement
on Labor
Cooperation, NAALC, health and safety violations are one of only three types
of violations---the
others being child labor and minimum wage--which can lead to sanctions against
the offending
country. Monetary penalties are also possible: according to some reports
Mexico could be fined
up to .007 percent of its annual trade with the United States, which could
exceed $50 million.
NAO Secretary Irasema Garza headed the U.S. Department of Labor panel that
presided over
the hearing. Garza, a Spanish-speaker who took questions from Mexican press
during a recess in
the proceedings, recommended ministerial consultations in three previous
cases alleging violations
of freedom of association and the right to organize, the strongest action
possible by the NAO in
such cases. Her report on the results of the hearing and other investigations
is expected in two
weeks.
Pressure on Mexico
The likelihood of the NAO process leading to sanctions or other top level
punishments is
mitigated by the fact that according to NAO procedures, all of the NAFTA-participating
governments must give their consent to punitive actions--meaning, in effect,
that Mexico would
have to agree to sanction or fine itself.
Even if the process does not lead to formal sanctions as a result of the
complaint, many labor
activists are hopeful about the complaint's ability to improve Mexican labor
conditions. Mary
Tong of the San Diego-based Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers stated
that she felt
that the members of the examining NAO panel had demonstrated an understanding
of what she
referred to as the "shenanigans of the Mexican labor boards".
She hopes that the in-house
politicking that goes along with the publicity of the complaint will put
the pressure on for Mexico
to make changes.
Federal officials from the Department of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS)
reportedly arrived in
Tijuana the day after the hearing, announcing plans for a new federal labor
board in Tijuana as
well as a statewide branch of the STPS in Baja. They also reportedly announced
that the STPS
would fine Han Young 72,000 pesos (about $9,000 US) for failing to correct
the health and safety
violations cited in three earlier inspections.
Workers at the Han Young auto-parts plant in Tijuana, Baja California won
two representation
elections, and should be in the process of negotiating a collective bargaining
agreement. But while
no progress has been made yet on that front, the government-controlled labor
unions have
returned to the plant to hold meetings with workers, and the company has
brought in scab
workers.
On two occasions, workers at the plant voted to affiliated with the Independent
Metal Workers
Union (STIMAHCS) affiliated with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT). This was
the first such
victory by an independent union in the border plants known as maquiladoras,
that is a union not
controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) government. Workers
won the election
with the support of both FAT and the San Diego-based Support Committee for
Maquiladora
Workers (SCMW).
In clear violation of the January 14 agreements reached between the Han
Young workers, the
company, and the labor authorities, government-controlled labor unions--the
Revolutionary
Confederation of Workers and Peasant (CROC) and the Confederation of Mexican
Workers
(CTM)--have visited the plant and held meetings with workers.
Last week the company also brought in 27 new workers from the state of Veracruz.
Sources
report that this is the first of two busloads of non-union workers the company
has recruited. The
company has also reportedly been "padding the books" with CROC-affiliated
workers who are
not actually working in the plant. The company appears to be preparing the
plant for the CTM or
CROC to call for a new election to throw out the independent union.
Workers in the plant have reportedly developed new strategies to resist
the employer and the
official union should they attempt to foist a government union on them again.
Over the course of the last month, workers have engaged in a number of in-plant
actions that
have met with positive results. For example, in January there was a week
of one-to-two-hour
work stoppages daily to protest discrimination against independent union
members and to demand
the removal of the CROC representative who also doubled as the company's
human resources
manager. To protest dramatic increases in quotas for production bonuses,
workers carried out a
week-long refusal to meet the quotas. The workers' slow down, led the company
to stop
pressuring the workers.
The Campaign for Labor rights in Washington, D.C. has called for people
in the United States
and Canada to hold public demonstrations in solidarity with the Han Young
workers.
On April 18, the second International Nike Mobilization will join forces
with protests against
the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas and other pending trade agreements
which
promote the power of corporations over the rights of working people. The
Campaign for Labor
Rights suggests that this would be an excellent opportunity for Han Young
supporters both to
raise the issue of the Han Young struggle specifically and, more generally,
to form alliances
around the issue of "free trade."
Evictions at Maclovio Rojas
In a related matter, the Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers reported
last week that the
Mexican government sought to evict the residents of Maclovio Rojas, the
community adjoining
some of Hyundai Precision America's operations near Tijuana.
As community security patrols got the news out that state authorities and
federal judicial police
were forcing families from their homes, the community mobilized. Government
officials
succeeded in evicting only six families with their possessions, before they
encountered between
300 and 400 people, residents of the community, in a demonstration that
blocked the adjacent
highway.
After about an hour, state government representatives announced that they
had made an
mistake. The officials and the police left and the six families were assisted
in returning to their
homes with their possessions. [Information provided by the Support Committee
for Maquiladora
Workers and Campaign for Labor Rights. For more information contact: Labor
Alerts: a service
of Campaign for Labor Rights. To receive the Labor Alerts e-mail, send a
message to
CLR@igc.apc.org Phone: (541) 344-5410 Web site: http://www.compugraph.com/clr
Membership/newsletter. Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E"
Street SE,
Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request.]
By Jess David Kincaid
Officials with the U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO) will hear testimony
on March 23
regarding a complaint alleging that the multinational Echlin Inc. and a
Mexico subsidiary
cooperated with the government-affiliated Confederation of Mexican Workers
(CTM) to stop a
union organizing drive in one of its Mexico City plants.
The Washington, D.C. hearing comes just one month after similar charges
were heard by an
NAO panel in San Diego regarding labor abuses in Mexico. The event marks
an increasing effort
by unions and other workers' groups in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to utilize
the administrative
machinery put in place by the NAFTA labor side accord.
The hearing results from a December submission which was brought before
the U.S. NAO by a
number of labor and human rights groups from the three countries, among
them the Echlin
Alliance, a group of unions representing Echlin workers including the Teamsters
and the United
Electrical Workers (UE). On February 25, petitioners filed an amendment
including new charges
of an attack on Mexican workers and organizers that occurred at another
Mexico City Echlin
subsidiary subsequent to the filing of the original complaint.
Health and Safety
The new submission also expands on alleged health and safety violations,
with affidavits detailing
conditions in the plant including exceedingly high exposure to asbestos
and solvents. The labor
groups charge that Mexico violated international and domestic labor law
as well as its
commitments under NAFTA by failing to guarantee workers's rights to free
association and the
right to organize, and by failing to enforce health and safety regulations.
Mexican labor authorities
are further charged with ignoring and in some cases participating in these
abuses.
The complaint accuses the Echlin subsidiary ITAPSA and the CTM (the largest
government-sanctioned union in Mexico) of engaging in a campaign of intimidation
to discourage
workers from voting for the independent Metal Workers Union (STIMAHCS) in
a representation
election held on September 9, 1997. Workers who support the independent
union say that they
attempted to certify STIMAHCS as their representative in order to rectify
health and safety
problems as well as other issues confronting them at their plant--conditions
which they say the
CTM, the union which currently represents ITAPSA workers, refuses to address.
Threats and Violence
The submission also alleges that representatives of ITAPSA- Echlin and the
CTM worked closely
together to deprive workers of their rights of freedom of association by
engaging in surveillance
of employees, threatening employees and their families with loss of work
and violence if they
supported STIMAHCS, discharging approximately 50 employees who were suspected
of being
union supporters, and retaliating in a variety of ways against workers for
initiating the
independent union campaign.
In addition, the petitioners charge that 170 armed thugs were brought into
the plant on the eve
of the September election at the direction of Echlin and the CTM. These
thugs allegedly occupied
the plant during the election, threatening voters both inside and outside
the plant with physical
violence and rape in order to intimidate workers and stop them for voting
for an independent
union, and are accused of beating one STIMAHCS representative while the
election was taking
place.
This campaign of violence allegedly continued at the Echlin subsidiary American
Brakeblok in
December. Charges added to the complaint in February assert that ITAPSA
workers and
STIMACHS organizers who went to the factory to leaflet and speak with other
Echlin workers
were attacked by CTM thugs who smashed the windows of their van and seriously
injured an
American Brakeblok employee they believed to be one of the leafletters.
The February amendment to the complaint also includes further documentation
of alleged health
and safety violations including inadequate and inappropriate protective
equipment, lack of worker
training, and lack of written safety information for workers. Affidavits
describe workers who lost
fingers in machinery, the chronic malfunction of equipment and the lack
of guards and
lockout/tagout during cleaning and repair.
Other serious accusations include the absence of a safety commission, excessive
noise, lack of
ventilation, lack of adequate medical services, defective electrical wiring
and inadequate
preparation in the event of fire. Asbestos exposure was allegedly extended
to workers' families
due to inadequate change and shower facilities and the fact that asbestos
-contaminated overalls
were worn home for laundering.
The amendment also adds new petitioners, including the United Auto Workers,
the International
Union of Electrical workers (IUE), Jobs with Justice, the Maquiladora Health
and Safety Support
Network, and several Mexican workers' rights organizations. They joined
dozens of other unions
and social organizations from the three NAFTA countries who originally submitted
the complaint,
including seven major U.S. and Canadian unions and their locals which represent
Echlin workers
throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Among the petitioners are the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the garment and
textile
worker's union UNITE, Mexico's Authentic Labor Front(FAT), and both the
Canadian and U.S.
sections of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA). The petitioners
have requested that
steps be taken to reinstate all of the fired workers with full compensation
and with guarantees that
all ITAPSA employees be protected from further deprivation of their associational
rights,
harassment, intimidation, violence, threats, interrogation and surveillance.
The complaint asks that
the company comply with requirements regarding health and safety including
protection from
asbestos exposure, provision of adequate protective equipment, and that
the appropriate
authorities conduct a plant inspection under conditions which ensure a fair
and accurate job.
Petitioners have also asked that the Mexican government guarantee that workers
in Mexico are
able to exercise the right to organize into independent trade unions free
of intimidation and the
threat of loss of work. They ask that the government clean up the elections
process, specifically
that it provide secret ballot elections at neutral locations, that it suspend
elections where
violations of protected rights have occurred, and that Mexican labor authorities
responsible for
conducting such elections by impartial. In addition to other demands, they
ask that the Mexican
government establish a public registry of unions and contracts, since such
information is not
available to Mexican workers and unions.
by Sam Smucker
The May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee (CIPM) increasingly faces
difficulties caused
by internal disputes, a lack of clear organizational focus, and its marginalization
by the larger new
labor federation, the National Union of Workers (UNT). The CIPM was formed
in May of 1995
as a coordinating committee between independent unions, democratic opposition
groups within
unions, peasant leagues, neighborhood organizations, and poor people's groups.
Originally its
purpose was to coordinate the organization of the May 1st demonstration
in Mexico City. Later it
served to build popular support for a number of strikes and other workers'
struggles. During its
first two years of existence it served as an important explicitly anti-capitalist
voice for unionists
and a permanent base of support for workers struggles and democratic union
caucuses.
Important unions participating officially in the CIPM include the Authentic
Workers Front (FAT),
Union of Workers of the National Autonomous University of Mexico(STUNAM)
and the
Autonomous University of Mexico (SITUAM), National Council of Labor (CNT),
the Union of
Workers of La Jornada (SITRAJOR) and the United Union of Fish Workers (SUTPESCA).
With
the exception of the SITUAM, the above unions also are members of the UNT.
Union locals and
Democratic Currents include Locals 9 and 10 of the Nation Teachers Union
(SNTE), and
democratic caucuses within the Revolutionary Federation of Workers and Peasants
(CROC),
Petroleum Workers, Social Security Workers, Musicians and Telephone workers.
Another important organization is the Independent Proletarian Movement (MPI)
which is closely
identified with the Route 100 bus workers union (SUTAUR). The May First
Federation actually
formed around SUTAUR's two-year struggle to preserve the jobs and the union
of the Route 100
workers, after the former mayor of Mexico City privatized the bus line and
attempted to destroy
the independent union.
Differences Between Unions and Neighborhood Groups
Recently, differences between established unions organizations on the one
hand and union
currents and the neighborhood organizations on the other have limited the
ability of the CIPM to
grow and function. The division has been exacerbated by the increasing prestige
of the new
reformist federation, the UNT. Almost all of the CIPM unions participate
in the UNT as official
members. But the CIPM refuses to participate as an organization, viewing
the UNT as too
conservative, and its leader Francisco Hernandez Juarez as too opportunistic
and self-
aggrandizing.
Reportedly, on several occasions, the unions have been harshly criticized
for their participation in
the UNT by the non-union organizations. Some of the top leaders of the UNT--such
as Francisco
Hernandez Juarez, General Secretary of the Telephone Workers Union (STRM)
and Antonio
Rosado, General Secretary of the Social Security Workers Union (SNTSS)--are
often bitterly
criticized at CIPM meetings for their anti-democratic practices and political
allegiances. Most
often these criticism emanate from workers who belong to democratic currents
within these
unions. Several union representatives told MLNA that the unions feel increasingly
marginalized
inside the CIPM as their proposals for structure and long-term strategy
are consistently voted
down by the non-union organizations. The CIPM's structure is a weekly meeting
and a kind of
steering committee, responsible for carrying out the decisions of the weekly
meetings. There are
also ad-hoc working groups which were set up during the October 1997 National
Convention to
propose an official structure for the organization and to deal with particular
problems or issues.
Democracy or Disorganization?
Currently, the CIPM has no dues system or structure of representation among
its member
organizations, in other words, whoever shows up at the weekly meetings is
allowed to vote on
CIPM policy. Consequently, the CIPM has no financial resources, except the
money that union
organizations donate for particular projects.
The non-union organizations argue that the CIPM must resist any attempt
to impose a vertical
and authoritarian structure. They insist that current practices are horizontal,
democratic, flexible
and unbureaucratic. They vehemently resist any attempt to turn the CIPM
into an independent
union confederation rather than a coordinating body. Long term goals of
the CIPM, as officially
determined in October 1997, include building the CIPM outside of Mexico
City (the CIPM now
exists in Jalisco as well as Mexico City), spreading the word about the
organization among
working people, supporting the struggle of the democratic caucus and working
toward a general
reorientation of Mexican labor organizations.
The National Union of Workers (UNT) was founded in November of last year
as an alternative to
the Congress of Labor (CT). What has the UNT undertaken and accomplished
since its founding?
Without a doubt, the most important point is that the UNT has established
itself and now exists as
an alternative organizational and ideological pole in the Mexican labor
movement. While for many
years the CT and the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) virtually monopolized
all
discussion and debate about unions and workers, today the existence of the
UNT, and to a lesser
extent of the May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee (CIPM) provide
political
alternatives for unions and workers. Still the question arises, how real
are the organizational and
ideological differences between the CT and the UNT? The UNT was originally
organized around
three fundamental ideas: 1) an end to corporativism, that is the PRI-government's
domination of
the union movement; 2) greater democracy within the labor unions; 3) an
alternative economic
program. Other issues clearly on the agenda include modification of the
North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the reform of the Federal Labor Law (LFT) and the
issues of the
"New Labor Culture" promoted by the World Bank, the PRI, and the
employers. What has the
UNT done about these issues so far?
Independence from the PRI?
While the UNT may be formally independent of the PRI, its leaders such as
Francisco Hernandez
Juarez of the Telephone Workers Union also remain leaders of the PRI. Hernandez
Juarez, a
member of the PRI's Political Council, recently commented that he believes
that the PRI has the
best political cadres and many possibilities, though he is critical of the
PRI president Mariano
Palacios Alcocer for failing to help the PRI recapture the confidence of
its base.
Hernandez Juarez said that he expects more discontent and new splits from
the PRI if the
situation can't be changed. But Hernandez Juarez speaks as a PRI loyalist
concerned about splits
in the ruling party--not as a radical critic looking forward to them.
Union Democracy?
In terms of greater democracy within the unions, the UNT's rhetoric of union
democracy may help
in some sense to promote democratic movements. But what we have heard about
at least one
UNT leader's practice undermines the UNT's claims. UNT leader Antonio Rosado
(STRM),
general secretary of the National Union of Workers of the Mexican Institute
of Social Security
(SNTSS), has been strongly criticized for undemocratic practices in his
union. Members of Local
33 of the SNTSS claim that their general secretary Eduardo Rodriguez Lopez
is a "union boss"
who has carried out "corrupt, gangster, anti-democratic acts, completely
lacking in union ethnics
and consciousness," and that he did so with the support of or at the
instigation of UNT leader
Rosado.
Local union officers and workers accuse Rodriguez Lopez of sending union
goons to seize the
local treasury and destroy documents, while holding innocent bystanders
captive. Local union
officers believe that Rodriguez Lopez may have illegally spent millions
of pesos from the local
treasury. Rosado, they argue, as head of the union, has failed to call Rodriguez
Lopez to account,
and moreover has supported him. Rosado has said the union statutes prevent
him from taking
action in the case. This is no small matter. SNTSS Local 33 represents 23,000
workers from
clinics and hospitals in the Valley of Mexico, one of the union's most important
locals. Since those
events, the workers have formed a Democratic Current, which, with the support
of the left-wing
May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee (CIPM), has challenged both
Local chief
Rodriguez Lopez and SNTSS and UNT leader Rosado. Whatever the facts of the
matter,
Rosado's failure to respond to local officers and investigate the matter,
does not speak well of
union democracy and responsibility in the SNTSS and the UNT.
Alternative Economic Program?
On economic issues, the UNT has spoken up for workers. The UNT protested
vehemently against
the PRI-government's 14 percent wage increase this year, and called for
the creation of a national
mobilization in defense of the workers' wages. But the UNT's national mobilization
has so far
been mainly a mustering of slogans, a campaign of words. The UNT has called
for the abolition of
the National Minimum Wage Commission (CNSM), and has gone to the Supreme
Court to have
the 14 percent wage increase declared unconstitutional. The Mexican Constitution's
Article 123
says workers are entitled to a living wage.
The UNT has also proposed to the Congress of Labor (CT) and the Confederation
of Mexican
Workers (CTM) a joint May Day march for higher wages. All of this is fine
and good, but the
UNT's attack remains mainly verbal: there have been no militant mass marches,
no national work
stoppages, no strikes to back the demand for a living wage.
New International Ties
In terms of foreign relations, the UNT has established new international
ties, meeting recently
with John Sweeney of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organizations
(AFL-CIO). The UNT and the AFL-CIO agreed to undertake a campaign to modify
and reform
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Hernandez Juarez quoted
as telling a
Mexican newspaper that the UNT and the AFL-CIO will take advantage of the
coming elections
in the U.S. and that "surely President Bill Clinton will give us his
backing." Perhaps Sweeney
exaggerated his influence in the White House, or maybe Hernandez Juarez
doesn't understand
U.S. politics.
New Labor Culture and the Reform of the LFT
While the Congress of Labor and the Confederation of Mexican Workers have
boosted the "New
Labor Culture" of cooperation between management and unions, Hernandez
Juarez has rejected
this particular version of cooperation at least verbally, saying that the
New Labor Culture does
not offer tangible solutions for the contemporary world of work. Still Hernandez
Juarez and the
Telephone Workers Union have their own version of cooperation with the employer--in
their case
the Mexican Telephone Company, TELMEX--in a form of union-management "partnership."
The UNT has indicated that it will support reform of the Federal Labor Law
(LFT), but so far has
not released its specific proposals. One indication of the UNT's slant may
be found in the
agreement reached on February 11 between the Federation of Unions of Enterprises
of Goods and
Services (FESEBES) and the Mexican Employers Confederation (COPARMEX). Hernandez
Juarez, the principal leader of the UNT is also the moving force in FESEBES.
The FESEBES-COPARMEX agreement promises to seek a "consensual, non-partisan"
reform of
the Federal Labor Law aiming to reform the law and improve productivity.
Alejandra Barrales,
head of the Flights Attendant Union and of FESEBES, said that the agreement
with COPARMEX
represented an historic step, an agreement reached between employers and
workers without the
tutelage of the government. After three months, the UNT seems to be setting
a course: somewhat
more independent from the PRI, though not completely so by any means; an
advocate of union
democracy, though not necessarily always an example of it; an opponent of
the current economic
policy, though without a clear alternative; an opponent of state-unionism,
but tending toward
business unionism and management-union partnership. But we are only three
months along, in the
infancy of the new organization.
As the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the most important labor
federation in the
Congress of Labor CT), approaches its 13th national Congress on March 7
and 8, it has come
under attack from various quarters. But its leader Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine
remains
unperturbed as he heads for an almost assured and perhaps unanimous re-election.
Rigoberto
Ochoa Zaragoza, the governor of Nayarit invited to a meeting of the labor
federation in his home
state in February, embarrassed Rodriguez Alcaine and the CTM by speaking
out about union
leaders who had enriched themselves at the expense of the workers. "We've
had a number of
those," he said. Present company excluded, of course, he didn't know
if Rodriguez Alcaine had
gotten rich.
ANAD Calls CTM: Authoritarian, Anti-Democratic, Corrupt
At the same time the National Association of Democratic Attorneys (ANAD)
carried out an
analysis of the CTM's statutes, and issued a report saying that the federation
was authoritarian,
anti-democratic, and corrupt. ANAD's report said that the CTM statutes put
inordinate power in
the hands of the general secretary, making him virtually omnipotent. Oscar
Alzaga, president of
ANAD, also criticized the CTM because it does not elect its leadership by
a secret, direct and
universal vote. In fact, there are no rules governing the method of voting
for officers. Further, the
democratic attorneys criticized Article 64 which says that CTM members must
belong to the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The official union's requirement
that their members
affiliate with the PRI has been seen as a pillar of the corporative system
of state-control over the
unions. Finally, ANAD argued that the CTM statutes which authorize accepting
contributions
from government functionaries and government institutions, represents "a
clear form of
corruption."
Who Pays the Bills
But then raising money is a problem. Luis Velazquez Jacks, treasurer of
the CTM and the nephew
of the late CTM chief Fidel Velazquez, reported in February that twenty
percent of the state
federations and national unions have not paid their CTM dues for 1997, and
many still owe dues
for 1996 and 1995.
The failure of its affiliates to pay their organizational dues, currently
set at 10 pesos per month per
member, has long been a problem for the federation, and has led the organization
into economic
dependence on the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the Mexican state
which have for
decades given secret subsidies to the CTM.
But the CTM has no serious economic problem, says Velazquez Jacks, since
the organization has
100 million pesos in cash in various banks earning interest. Incidentally,
Velazquez Jacks,
accused of trafficking in labor union "protection contracts,"
that is sub-standard contracts offered
to employers without the workers' knowledge, said he would not resign from
the CTM.
Rodriguez Alcaine Continues His Rant
Meanwhile, the CTM's general secretary Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine has toured
the country,
rounding up votes for his re- election. While doing so, he continued to
rant and rave against his
betes noires. Rodriguez Alcaine, joining the government's xenophobic and
racist campaign, called
the Zapatista guerillas and the four-year-old Chiapas uprising of Mayan
Indian peasants, "a
creation of foreigners." He also lashed out at Manuel Camacho Solis,
the former mayor of Mexico
City expelled a while back from the PRI, saying he was "crazy, resentful
and sick for power."
At the same time, Rodriguez Alcaine reiterated his support for the PRI's
president, Mariano
Palacios Alcocer. Having collected the support of dozens of unions and CTM
organizations,
Rodriguez Alcaine is expected to be re-elected without opposition at the
March 7 National
Congress for a two- year term.
The Congress of Labor (CT), the organization that brings together all of
Mexico's "official" labor
federations, that is those historically loyal to the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI),
turned 32 year's old on February 18--but for the first time in its history
there was no ceremony
and no celebration. The mood at the CT is rather like that at an intensive
care unit, where one is
not sure whether the patient will live or die, whether one should thank
the doctor or call the
priest. Hector Valdes Romo, president of the CT, says, "The Congress
of Labor is going through
a crisis of survival." He adds, "Either we will overcome the obstacles
and carry the organization
forward, or we will bury it in the junkyard of history."
Immediate Causes of the Crisis
The immediate causes of the crisis of the CT are many:
*The January 1994 Chiapas Uprising led by the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation (EZLN)
which opened a period of political crisis in Mexico.
*President Zedillo's 1994 peso devaluation, leading to a stock market collapse
and depression
which devastated the economy and caused hardship among workers and peasants.
*The June 1997 death of Fidel Velazquez, 40-year head of the Confederation
of Mexican
Workers (CTM), man and the organization that had dominated the CT since
its founding.
*The July 1997 victory of the opposition parties over the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI)
in the Congressional elections, making the PRI a minority for the first
time in its history, together
with the victory of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD) in the
race for mayor of Mexico City.
*The August 1997 departure of six organizations from the Congress of Labor,
which in
November 1997 joined with scores of other to found the National Union of
Workers (UNT), as a
rival to the CT.
Taken together these developments have worked to break the bonds that once
connected the PRI
to the CT, the CT to its member federations and unions, and those unions
to the workers. The
economic, social and political stress of the last few years cracked the
beams and broke the bolts
that held the CT together. Now, like a house that was hit by a tornado,
one wonders whether it
will hold up, or if it will all suddenly collapse into a mass of splintered
lumber, broken furniture,
tattered flags and old photographs.
A New Direction?
On the union's thirty-second birthday, CT head Valdes Romo, has laid out
a series of proposals
which he thinks might just salvage the federation.
First, Valdes Romo, calls for an honest re-examination of the federation.
"We have lost
credibility," he says, "because we have failed the workers, because
we have said one thing, and
done another." The CT leader has proposed a forum for discussion, analysis,
and self-criticism.
Second, the CT leader will establish a new organizational structure, opening
offices in every
Mexican state and territory.
Third, Valdez Romo calls for a dialogue between the CT and UNT and other
labor organizations.
"The things we have in common," he says, "are much greater
than our differences." Valdes Romo
proposes that the CT and the UNT can march together on May 1, Mexico's traditional
labor day,
without conflict. Fourth, the CT chief calls for pushing forward the "new
labor culture," defining
it as respect for workers, co-participation in industry, and a more just
distribution of the benefits.
In addition, the CT now proclaims its political independence from the PRI.
CT leader Enrique
Aguilar Borrego, head of the bank workers, claims that "corporativism
[state-party control of the
unions] and the obligation to join the PRI is now history. The CT is undergoing
a transformation
from a political to a union organization." CT spokesperson Jesus Ernesto
Moreno Morales
recently announced that the CT will respect its members political preferences
and party loyalties,
and will no longer attempt to channel the workers' vote to the Institutional
Revolutionary Party
(PRI). But the problem is that while within the CT Valdes Romo represents
reform, Leonardo
Rodriguez Alcaine, head of the CTM, stands for reaction. Rodriguez Alcaine
continues to support
the PRI, to attack the UNT, and to resent any changes in the old way of
doing things.
The real question is does Valdes Romo have the desire and will to overcome
the CT's historical
burden of statism. Given the organization's history, the chances are slim.
With the Blessing of the State
The CT grew out of efforts in the 1950s and 60s to unify Mexico's more conservative
labor
organizations. In 1955, several unions merged to form the Worker Unity Block
(BUO), the first
step in the creation of a unified union movement. Then, on November 20,
1965, Mexico's rival
labor federations and unions convened the National Revolutionary Assembly
of the Proletariat, in
order to unify the union movement. Out of that assembly came the founding
on February 18, 1966
of the Congress of Labor, established with the blessing of Mexican President
Diaz Ordaz.
The CT became labor's principal organizational connection to the Institutional
Revolutionary
Party. The CT's leaders dominated the Workers Sector of the PRI, that is
the scores of union
officials who stood for congress, senate, mayoralties and governorships.
During the 1970s, the CT also acted as a state bulwark against the labor
insurgency of the early
1970s, an upheaval which found its greatest expression in electrical workers
union (STERM) and
the Democratic Tendency (TD). When the CT could no longer contain the radical
upsurge, the
Mexican Army moved into crush the TD.
At the same time, as the Mexican state expanded its role in the economy,
the CT working through
the PRI and the state, pushed for new social programs for workers. The CT
won the workers
housing programs INFONAVIT and FOVISSSTE in 1972, and the Workers Bank in
1977.
The Decline of the CT
But with the economic crisis that opened in August 1982, when Mexico could
not meet the
payments on its 100 billion dollar foreign debt, the country's economic
model began to change.
Under presidents Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988), Carlos Salinas de Gortari
(1988-1994), and
Ernesto Zedillo (1994-), the so- called technocrats, Mexico adopted a "neo-liberal,"
that is to say,
a conservative economic model. The technocratic PRI presidents advocated
privatization,
deregulation, and open markets. The government sold off the telephone company,
airlines, copper
mines, the railroads. As part of the technocratic or neoliberal program,
the state also attacked the
labor unions. Salinas attacked the petroleum workers and arrested the union
leaders, and sent the
army in to occupy the Cananea copper mine. Together with the assault on
the unions, the
government became the advocate of a neo-liberal labor policy, promoting
cooperation between
management and labor, and new flexible collective bargaining agreements.
Impressed by Salinas's
assault on the Petroleum Workers' and Miners' unions Francisco Hernandez
Juarez, head of the
Telephone Workers Union (STRM) supported the privatization of the Mexican
Telephone
Company, in exchange for a promise that members of his union would not suffer
layoffs.
Then, with the support of Salinas, in 1989 Hernandez Juarez, organized the
Federation of Unions
of Enterprises Goods and Services (FESEBES), as the advocate of a "new
unionism" which
would work with employers, granting flexible contracts in order to improve
productivity, quality
and competitiveness. The founding of FESEBES in 1989 represented the first
step leading toward
the break-up of the Congress of Labor which culminated in the split in 1997
that led to the
founding of the UNT. By the end of 1997, many of the FESEBES unions left
the CT to join with
others in founding the UNT. The unions and leaders who remained in the CT
became increasingly
divided about the federation's future course, divided between Valdes Romo's
calls for reform, and
Rodriguez Alcaine's rantings of reaction.
And All the Other, Smaller Issues
When an institution loses its political purpose and social function, all
the once secondary issues
suddenly also become problems. Like the plumbing. Nothing quite works right
anymore. The
CT's headquarters becomes a symbol for the state of the organization. The
CT, it turns out, does
not own the building which belongs to the Sole Union of Workers of the Government
of the
Federal District (SUTGDF), the Mexico city workers' union. No one looks
after the deteriorating
building which gives the impression of neglect. More important, the CT has
sunk into debt, into a
state of technical bankruptcy. The CT owes more than 287,000 pesos to the
Light and Power
Company of Central Mexico. The CT also stands several months behind in its
payments to the
Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) for joint employer-union education
programs. The
affiliates typically fall behind in their payments to the CT, so the organization
always falls behind.
And, curiously for the PRI's official federation, at present the CT does
not have a registration
(registro) from the Department of Labor, meaning that it does not have legal
standing to negotiate
with anybody. CT lawyers are working on that one.
Still the Most Important Labor Organization in Mexico
While the CT has seen its headquarters become dingy and dilapidated, has
fallen into debt, and
somehow lost its legal standing--it remains the most important labor organization
in Mexico. The
CT claims to represent 10 million Mexican workers, though no one believes
those highly inflated
figures. The best estimate is that the CT has perhaps half that many workers.
The rival UNT today
claims 150 unions with 1.5 million members. Mexico's National Institute
of Statistics (INEGI)
says that the country has 36 million workers, of whom 9.8 million are affiliated
with the Mexican
Institute of Social Security (IMSS). Half of Mexico's workers labor in the
informal sector. The
CT's political influence remains significant, but increasingly weak. The
CT-PRI Workers Sector
today is made up of 41 congressmen and 11 senators. Of the 41 congressmen,
the CTM has 28;
the Federation of Unions of Workers at the Service of the State (FSTSE),
the federal pubic
employees union also headed by Valdes Romo, has six; the Revolutionary Confederation
of
Workers and Peasants (CROC) has three; the Regional Confederation of Mexican
Workers
(CROM) has three; and Victor Flores Morales, head of the Railroad Workers
Union (STFRM)
holds one. But as the PRI itself goes deeper into crisis, the importance
of the Worker's Sector
becomes more dubious.
Valdes Romo says he wants to carry the Congress of Labor forwards into the
future. Rodriguez
Alcaine clearly wants to lead it backwards into the glorious past. The two
may think they are
fighting over the best treatment for the patient in the intensive care unit.
They may be struggling
over the corpse.