Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 02:17:35 -0400
Subject: AUT: Part 2, Mex Labor News, 16 Oct 99


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          MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS - BEGIN PART 2
                    BE SURE YOU HAVE PART 1

          FEDERAL LABOR BOARD VALIDATES CROC'S VICTORY
     AFTER VIOLENT REPRESENTATION ELECTION AT COKE PLANT

     In a shocking decision, the Federal Board of Conciliation
and Arbitration has upheld in late September the victory of the
Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC) at the
Coca Cola plant in Villahermosa, Hidalgo. The board determined
that the CROC won with 237 votes over the Benito Juarez union
which received only 178 votes.

     Four national congressmen of the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD), Rosalino Hernandez Beltran, Adolfo Gonzalez
Zamora, Jorge Leon Diaz, and Joaquin Hernandez Correa, refused to
recognize the results of the election. They spoke out in the
House of Representatives, denouncing Alberto Juarez Blancas,
national leader of the CROC for organizing violence at the time
of the election which left 40 persons wounded and others shaken
up. 

     At the same time, in Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala workers demonstrated
in late September to demand the reinstatement of 420 workers who
had been ordered fired by the CROC after they supported another
union in a representation election. 

     Fired workers complained that Eduardo Vazquez Martinez, who
heads both the CROC's state organization and is a federal
congressman for the Institutional Revolutionary Party had
provided the employer with workers to replace them in their jobs.
The replacement workers reportedly received 70 pesos per day
(US$7.00), 30 pesos more than the regular unionized workers. [See
the following editorial.]

                              ###

[The following editorial by Arturo Alcalde Justiniani appeared in
the Mexico City daily newspaper LA JORNADA on October 2, 1999.
Alcalde is a Mexico City labor lawyer who represents airline
pilots, works closely with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), and
is active in the National Association of Democratic Attorneys
(ANAD).]

               LABOR VIOLENCE: ETERNAL IMPUNITY

                 by Arturo Alcalde Justiniani

     Questions: Who answers for the 40 people injured in an
altercation provoked by the CROC [Revolutionary Confederation of
Workers and Peasants] in the labor representation election
carried out at the Coca Cola plant in Tabasco? Who can put limits
on the gangster attitudes which in every representation election 
the official union leaders of our country assume happily,
publicly and with impunity. Surely, as always, these acts will go
unpunished, because these criminals are untouchable and in a
system of labor organization such as ours, such violence is
considered a necessary evil, even natural.

     The possibility of legitimate union representation in our
country is almost impossible: there are obstacles to the legal
registration of unions, limitless delays in changing from one
union to another, new administrative requirements, supposedly
authorized by the so-called labor-employer dialogue, so as not to
cause legal red-tape in the case of such demands, if a union some
union should heroically overcome this modern calvary, then the
final medicine is applied: direct violence at the labor
representation election, by taking over the factory, obviously
with the permission of the firm--when it is a question of
defending its union--the hiring of experienced thugs and the
complicity of the authorities who are supposed to keep order.
Finally, the golden rule which characterizes the Mexican system
of labor relations, that which has given the system the
international status as the most illegitimate in the world, the
firm almost always decides which union should control the
collective bargaining agreement.

     Why is the subject of labor's subjugation always
untouchable, so that even [state or local] governments which have
arisen from opposition parties hesitate to attack the issues at
their root? How can the presidential precandidate Manuel Bartlett
convert this very same CROC into the best known symbol of his
campaign? These are questions which should be asked if there is a
real intention to strengthen the democratic life of this country,
which finds its most elemental expression in the everyday life of
the majority of the population: in their workplaces.

     Workers' defenselessness is reaching extreme limits:
subcontracting is considered to be the most creative technique of
labor administration, lowering wages and increasing insecurity,
creating a netherworld of workers, unknown to the bosses who
benefit from their services. Employer attorneys add to their
salaries by peddling protection contracts and sophisticated forms
of creating substitute employers, which is nothing other than a
kind of subterfuge which only attempts to avoid the employers'
labor responsibilities. The army of so-called "confidential" 
employees [those who work closely with management and are exempt
from union organization] continues to grow, as does the hiring of
workers under the rubric of "honoraria" to such a degree that the
Secretary of Finance and Public Credit has created the
contradictory category of "honoraria assimilated to wages;" and
in the public sector, the functionaries of the Secretary of the
Comptroller and Administrative Development use bureaucratic
covers to violate the most elemental labor rights derived from
recent decisions of the Supreme Court, so that they have
practically buried public employees union rights.

     What do the political parties offer to overcome this vortex
which threatens to destroy the quality of life of the working
class population? What specific proposals arise to achieve a
relationship between the factors of production which would result
in a living wage, rational productivity, and an authentically new
labor culture? How prepared are they really to promote freedom of
association? These are questions which they have an obligation to
respond to, not only with vague statements, but rather with
specific commitments, that is if they hope to win a vote of
confidence in the face of a generalized disillusionment. The
obstacles to free organizations have been clearly identified:
some derive from the very authorities which see their obligation
as protecting the existing forms of control; others come from an
employer culture which always distrusts and fears the free
participation of the workers, particularly if they have the right
to intervene in and make decisions about the life of their unions
and, within those labor organizations, the impunity to carry out
all sorts of undesirable practices which begin with collective
bargaining without the participation of the workers, consolidates
itself in the robbery of union dues and the union's wealth, and
strengths itself with illegitimate representation in the
political system and the tripartite organizations of labor
jurisprudence and social security.

     Workers are going to find it hard to believe the promises of
parties which in the exercise of government have not assumed the
responsibility to fight impunity, to promote freedom of
association, to facilitate transparency and in general to carry
out action that, by way of respect for a state of law, overcome
the agony and defenselessness which they feel.

                              ###

     CONTINENTAL TIRE COMPANY FIRES 18 EUZKADI WORKERS
   FOR OPPOSING GLOBALIZATION, FLEXIBLIZATION OF CONTRACT

                         by Don Sherman

     The Continental Tire company has fired 18 union activists at
its Euzkadi plant in Guadalajara Mexico. Continental's behavior
at Euzkadi represents an instructive lesson about "globalization"
and its significance for Mexican workers.

          The Only Independent Rubber Workers Union 

     The National Revolutionary Union of Euzkadi Workers (SNRTE)
has represented
 the 1,500 workers at the Euzkadi Rubber Tire Plant in
Guadalajar, Jalisco, Mexico for many years. The only independent
union representing rubber workers in Mexico, the SNRTE managed
through the years to win decent contracts until last December
when a multi-national company, Continental Tire, purchased the
business. 

     Immediately, the management of Continental demanded changes
in the existing contract. The company left the union with little
choice but to negotiate. But Continental was not really
interested in negotiation. The company wanted the union to
quickly recognize that its world had changed. Continental's
management told the union that the new world begins with the
concept of globalization, meaning "workforce flexibility and
increased productivity."

                    Work Without Rest 

     The threat was there: the union better get used to this
changed world and not oppose any of the unilateral changes that
Continental wanted to make. Those changes included a demand that
the workers learn and do a number of jobs within the factory,
that all wages would be tied to production, and, as if that was
not enough, the company also expected the union workforce to work
a 7 day schedule, 365 days a year. 

     The argument that management used to demand that the workers
continually work 8-hours shifts everyday of the year was that
their employees in Europe, in France, Italy and Germany, were
also required to work this type of family friendly schedule.
Evidently modern management with all its focus on globalization
does not have much respect for the intelligence and knowledge of
Mexican workers. 

     The Mexican workers at Euzkadi realized that  European
workers have for years struggled for a shorter workweek. The
company could not make anyone really believe that these same
European workers were now so captured by the management's vision
of globalization that they no longer wanted to have time off.
Unfortunately it is true, however, that the rest of the Mexican
unionized rubber workers at Uniroyal, General Tire, and Goodyear,
all of whom belong to the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM),
are now forced to work 7-day-a- week schedules, or in some cases
three weeks of 12-hour days with one day off.

               Challenge Brings Mass Firing

     A number of workers with over 20 years of service in the
union and to Euzkadi though dared to challenge the company on the
no day off work schedule and other unilateral changes that
Continental deemed necessary to compete in new globalized
economy. These workers were part of a union commission, which
also requested the company honor its obligations under the old
Euzkadi contract which granted workers a yearly share of profits.

     This challenge was too much for the global visionaries at
Continental to endure. They could easily deal with a CTM
unionized plant. But here was a union and workers that had the
audacity to stand up to them. What to do? Well for Continental
the answer was simple; it was not in more statements of their
global economic vision, but pure management-style repression. On
June 11, 1999, 18 of the leaders of the workers commission that
had argued against all the unilateral changes that Continental
wanted to introduce were abruptly fired. 

                    Defending Their Rights

     In a press conference soon after the firings the secretary
general of SNRTE, Alvaro Ramirez said that the "only crime
committed by these workers is their defense of workers rights."
Since the firings and the unilateral changes implemented by
Continental Tire, the union has fought back. On September 20 and
21 the union had its first judicial hearing for the reinstatement
of the fired workers. At this hearing in Mexico at the Federal
Board of Arbitration and Conciliation (JFCA), Continental wanted
to change the rules and meet privately with the president of the
board, probably to impart some company-inspired globalization
wisdom on why these firings are necessary for the economy of
Mexico. 

     The position the company took at this hearing was that they
would have no trouble in paying off the workers, but since they
were "troublemakers" they wouldn't reinstate them to their jobs.
Another hearing on the case of the fired workers is scheduled for
November 10 in Mexico City. In addition, on September 22, in
order to emphasize to the labor board that the workers were
serious about reinstatement, around 100 workers and their
supporters gathered and demonstrated outside the building
demanding justice for the Euzkadi workers.   

     If you want to send letters of support for the fired workers
you can direct them to the union: Sindicato Nacional
Revolucionario de Trabajadores de la Hulera Euzakadi, K.M.
Carretera a el Salto, Jalisco,  Mexico, telephone number (01) 3-
688-0967.            

                              ###

               PRD GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO CITY
          TELLS GARMENT WORKERS TO VACATE PREMISES

     Saul Escobar, under-secretary for labor in the Party of the
Democratic Revolution (PRD) government in Mexico City, has
informed Concepcion "Concha" Guerrero Flores, president of the
19th of September Garment Workers Union that the union must
vacate its premises on San Antonio Abad 151 in downtown Mexico
City to make way for a new shopping center. Escobar promised the
union it would be given four spaces in the new center for its
activities. But, meeting at an early morning prayer service, the
union leaders rejected his proposal. 

                    Once Heroic Story

     This is a pathetic end to what was once a heroic story. On
September 19, 1985 Mexico was shaken and then devastated by a
terrible earthquake that destroyed entire neighborhoods, killed
thousands, and transformed both the city's and the country's
political life. 

     On San Antonio Abad, an ancient street near the city's
historic district, many building crumbled, destroying the garment
shops and injuring or killing many of the women who labored
inside. Led by Evangelina Corona, the seamstresses who survived
vowed to form a new union, taking as its name the date of the
earthquake. 

     The new union established its headquarters at 151 San
Antonio Abad, in the ruins of an old shop that had collapsed
killing 300 women garment workers. With help from feminists,
leftists, and from the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), the 19 of
September Garment Workers Union succeeded after many protests and
demonstrations in winning registration from the authorities--a
rare victory for an independent union. 

     While the union had some success in organizing and even in
negotiating a couple of contracts in the 1980s, through the 1990s
the union has been in decline. Today it reportedly has only a
little more than a dozen members.

     Like the other social solidarity and civil society movement
which came after the earthquake of 1985, the garment workers
contributed in a small way to the political transformation which
eventually led to the victory of election of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas
of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) to the office of
mayor of Mexico City. While Cardenas has now stepped down to
devote himself to his campaign for the presidency, it is ironic
that his party's city government delivered the eviction notice to
the remnant of the garment workers.
 
                              ###

                    EIGHT MINERS DIE IN CAVE-IN
                     OF MARBLE MINE IN HIDALGO

     Eight miners died in a cave in of a marble mine in San
Miguel Acambay in the state of Hidalgo after a wall caved in,
burying them. The Civil Defense, Red Cross, firemen and later
troops of the Mexican Army worked to rescue the men, but failed
to save them. Authorities attributed the accident to recent
rains, but the Minister of the Interior (Gobernacion) said it
would investigate the use of explosives in the area.

                              ### 

SOCIAL STATISTICS

Wages

     Public employees wages fell 40 percent in the last five
years, according to Jose Luis Acosta Herrera, head of the Union
of Workers of ISSSTE. (Arturo Gomez Salgado, "Retrocedio 40% el
salario de los burocratas en 5 anos," EL FINANCIERO, October 5,
1999.)

Workers' Remittances from U.S. to Mexico

     Remittances by Mexican workers in the United States to their
homeland rose by 6 percent in the first half of this year,
reaching 2.806 billion dollars in six months. This would lead to
a yearly total of 5.6 billion dollars in money sent home.
(Marvella Colin, "Crece transferencia de divisas al pais de
trabajadores mexicanos," EL FINANCIERO, October 5, 1999).

Employment

     While employment in industrial manufacturing rose by 2.7
percent in the first six months of the year, basic metal
manufacturing employment actually fell by 5.1 percent. (Norberto
Lopez Zuniga, "Cae el Empleo 5.1% en las Industria Metalica,"
EXCELSIOR, September 29, 1999).

Unemployment

     An investigator from the National Autonomous University of
Mexico, Fernando Noriega, argues that unemployment in Mexico is
between 19 and 23 percent, and not the 2.5 percent claimed by the
government. ("Tasa de desocupacion de 24% durante este sexenio,"
LA JORNADA, September 29, 1999.) 

Minimum Wage

     Workers earning a minimum wage could only afford to buy 39
percent of the basic shopping basket, according to a study by the
Workers University of Mexico (UOM). ("Con el minisalario solo se
puede adquirir 39% de las canasta basica," LA JORNADA, September
29, 999.)

END MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS, VOL. 4, NO. 16, OCT 16, 1999


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