 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2006 
Mexican Workers Plan 24-Hr Strike as Election Looms
 Reuters
| | Francisco Hernandez, Mexican leader of the Cananea section of the national mine union, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Cananea in Mexico's state of Sonora May 21, 2006. Mexico's union movement was born in 1906, bathed in blood on the arid, copper-rich hills near the U.S. border, when 19 striking miners were gunned down in a fight over pay and conditions. Exactly 100 years later, miners are again clashing with the government and a string of wildcat stoppages has paralyzed some of the country's largest mines and metals plants. In one recent street fight, police shot dead two striking workers. (Reuters/Daniel Aguilar) |
Tens of thousands of Mexican telephone and university workers are threatening a 24-hour strike just days before July presidential elections to pressure the government to end a long-running mining dispute.
On June 28 the workers will walk off the job, joining thousands of teachers and miners, some of whom have been on strike for months in a series of labor conflicts that have seen running street battles with riot police.
The sometimes violent conflicts have caused two deaths and dozens of injuries, creating industrial instability ahead of closely-fought July 2 presidential elections.
The telephone workers union said the June 28 strikes at Mexico's main telephone company Telmex, would affect only customer service and administrative functions. Telmex is owned by the world's third richest man, Carlos Slim.
"If you want to make a phone call you won't have any problem, but if you have to make a payment or your phone is broken there will be nothing you can do about it that day," union spokesman Eduardo Torres said on Monday.
The powerful electricity workers union is expected to organize protests to support the strike, although its members will not walk off the job completely.
Mexico's mining industry has been in turmoil for most of this year with sporadic and sometimes drawn-out strikes in favor of union boss Napoleon Gomez, accused of fraud by the government and some workers.
PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT
Torres said the one-day strike had been called to pressure the government to reinstate the ousted union boss. He said the June 28 labor action would only be called off if the government backed down.
The Sicartsa steel mill and Grupo Mexico's massive Cananea and La Caridad mines in the state of Sonora near the U.S. border are the hardest hit by the mining crisis.
In April, two workers were shot dead by police in a botched attempt to end the Sicartsa strike by force.
Gomez was officially pushed out of the union in February and is now wanted by Sonora police for alleged misuse of union funds, but still enjoys the support of many union members who say the labor ministry illegally orchestrated his removal.
La Caridad produced 122,317 metric tons of copper in concentrates last year. La Cananea produced 118,741 metric tons of copper in concentrates in 2005.
In a separate conflict, striking teachers have closed schools in several Mexican states. Worst hit is the southern state of Oaxaca, where teachers are demanding pay rises and want the state governor to resign.
Pitched battles with the police there resulted in 66 injuries last week. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us