 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2006 
More than 20,000 Miners Protest in Mexico
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
| | Thousands of union workers march in solidarity with the national miners union in downtown Mexico City, Tuesday March 7, 2006. The march was organized after the National Miners and Metal Workers Union shut down most mining and steel operations across the country during a two-day strike to support union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who is being investigated by the government for alleged corruption. (AP/Fernando Castillo) |
Mexico City - More than 20,000 union workers marched Tuesday in downtown Mexico City, accusing the government of meddling in the affairs of the national miners union by seeking to oust its leader.
The march comes days after the 250,000-member National Miners and Metal Workers Union shut down most mining and steel operations across the country during a two-day strike to support union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who is being investigated by the government for alleged corruption.
Mexico's Labor Ministry said last week that it considers Elias Morales, a dissident who had been ejected from the miners union, as the union's new leader, citing documents filed by members of the union's oversight committee.
The union, however, says the documents are false and that Gomez Urrutia remains in charge.
John J. Sweeney, president of the U.S. workers union, the AFL-CIO, sent a letter to President Vicente Fox to express his concern about the situation.
"I am writing on behalf of the more than nine million members of the AFL-CIO to express my extreme concern over the direct intervention of the Mexican government's in the internal affairs" of the miners' union, the letter stated.
"The government's arbitrary removal of Mr. Napoleon Gomez Urrutia from his elected position of General Secretary of the organization infringes on the union's constitution, violates Mexican law, and undermines conventions of the International Labor Organization ratified by Mexico," the letter stated.
The National Workers Union, an umbrella organization encompassing a host of Mexico's organized labor groups, called the march Tuesday that drew about 23,000 workers, Mexico City police said.
In a memorandum on its Web site, the Telephone Workers Union said the government is seeking to oust Gomez Urrutia because of his opposition to proposed labor reforms, and his blaming mining company Grupo Mexico for the Feb. 19 explosion at its coal mine in northern Mexico that killed 65 miners.
The government denies that it is interfering in union affairs.
Fox said Tuesday that Gomez Urrutia was not ousted by the government, but rather by mining union members themselves who have accused him of fraud.
The accusations stem from the distribution of $55 million paid last year by Grupo Mexico as part of the 1990 privatization of two copper mines. The union says that of the 6,500 workers and former workers of the mines who are entitled to a share of the money, 5,300 have been paid an average of $7,600 each.
Other former workers of the mines who claimed payment but were turned down have filed lawsuits, and authorities said Monday they are requiring Gomez Urrutia to appear to make a declaration.
In an interview published Tuesday in the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada, Gomez Urrutia denied reports that he had fled the country, saying he's in the northern state of Coahuila talking to miners about last month's coal mine disaster.
Families of the dead miners have been equally critical of Gomez Urrutia, Grupo Mexico and federal labor authorities.
Dow Jones newswires correspondent Anthony Harrup contributed to this report. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us