Representatives of Mexico’s Oldest Labor Union Visit Washington in Hopes of Garnering Support
Written by James Polk Edited by Manuel Perez-Rocha- February 1, 2010
It was during the middle of the night on October 10, 2009 when 6000 Mexican military and federal police ousted the workers and occupied the facilities of the country’s second largest electrical power utility, Luz y Fuerza. Acting on an executive order by Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinjosa, military electricians and staff took control of the utility that provides power to Mexico City region.
At the same time, President Calderon fired every member of the 44,000 strong unionized workforce, the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME). Calderon’s executive order pretended to disband the 95-year-old union, Mexico’s oldest. This was in clear violation of the country’s constitution, yet members of the Mexican legislature have been unable to garner the votes necessary to call Calderon to task for this infraction or his clear move to privatize the public utility. Just days later on October 15, more than 100,000 people took to the streets of Mexico City to protest Calderon’s decree. This resulted in Calderon saying he would meet with representatives of the union, but still nothing has been done to rectify the situation, and in fact Calderon has hardened his position against them.
Shortly thereafter international labor unions rallied in support of the SME. The AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers (ICEM), the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), Public Services International (PSI), the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Mexican Miners and Metalworkers, and several other labor unions called for the revocation of President Calderon’s decree which liquidated the company, and calling for the restoration of the SME and ending this obvious union busting.
Last week, two senior representatives of the SME were in Washington, DC lobbying for support. They hope to gain external pressure to convince Calderon and the Mexican legislature to revisit this issue and hopefully reverse this clear violation of international labor law. SME Interior Secretary Jose Humberto Montes de Oca Luna and Health Secretary Pipino Cuevas are giving firsthand accounts of the injustices their union members have endured, the problems this transition has caused the Mexican people, and the financial benefits this has provided to a few wealthy investors.
Their first meeting was with AFL-CIO’s Secretary and Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Shuler. She assured them that the SME has the full support of the organization and that the AFL-CIO will do everything in its power to resolve this issue in their favor.
The SME representatives then filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor. They met with Crispin Rigby an International Relations Officer with the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs and were assured that the U.S. will take this matter seriously and would pursue the complaint diligently.
A presentation and Q&A took place with over 30 representatives from diverse Non-Governmental Organizations. Support was strong and plans for action were formed. At this meeting, Stan Gacek, the Associate Director of the AFL-CIO’s International Affairs Department, revealed that the AFL-CIO, along with representatives of the Canadian Labor Congress and the Mexican National Union of Workers would all be taking part in the upcoming Ministerial of Labor Secretaries of the NAFTA Nations in Mexico City on February 18-19. There, they will lobby for a reversal of the dissolution of the SME and make clear that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should be revamped to better respect the rights of organized labor.
According to Lauren Stewart, a Program Officer of the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center for the Americas, their last stop in Washington for the day was at the office of U.S. House of Representative member Eliot Engle. Representative Engle is the Chair of the House Western Hemisphere Sub-Committee. Representative Engle’s committee has some jurisdiction in such matters, and he is thought to look favorably on the plight of the SME, although no action has been taken at this point.
Since the military takeover of Luz y Fuerza numerous problems have emerged. Mexican citizens are increasingly dissatisfied with the electrical service they receive; the number of outages has increased. A great number of fatalities have occurred among the electrical workers apparently because they do not have the knowledge or experience to safely and effectively run the utility.
Just as important, the dissolution of the oldest labor union in Mexico is part of a trend in Mexico to privatize industries and utilities that were developed with public money. The SME secretaries believe that the seizure of Luz y Fuerza and the intention to dissolve the SME are clear moves to enrich and empower a slim wealthy elite in Mexico. For instance:
· PAN members and former Secretary’s of Energy Fernando Canales Clariond and Ernesto Martens are both major shareholders in WL Communications, the company that stands to gain from the dissolution of the SME
· Lawyer Diego Fernandez de Cevallos is one of the most influential and conservative politicians in the PAN and is the legal representative of WL Communications in its fight with the SME
Union membership has continued to decline with the installation of neo-liberal economic policies throughout the U.S. and Mexico since the beginning of NAFTA, and this trend has been accelerated with the dissolution of the SME. This has led to increased unemployment and poverty in the two nations. Hopefully the protestations of the members of the SME will not fall on deaf ears and this trend can be reversed. Their next stop will be in Canada to attempt to gather support with their government before the upcoming NAFTA ministerial on February 18-19 in Mexico City.