 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2007 
Mexico Court Rules Cananea Strike Can Go On
 Frank Jack Daniel - Reuters
go to original
| | Policemen stand guard over suspected gunmen arrested after a shootout between two gangs in Cananea, Sonora, August 15, 2007. A suspected gunman was killed and another person was injured in the shootout, police said. (Reuters/Henry Romero) |
Cananea, Mexico - A Mexican court ruled on Wednesday that a two-week old strike at Grupo Mexico's Cananea copper mine can continue for the time being.
The court said miners at Cananea, the world's largest copper mine, would not lose their jobs if they stayed on strike over safety rules.
"The strikes are still in force," union official Carlos Pavon told Reuters.
The court also said the union could continue a strike at Grupo Mexico's (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) lead and silver mine in the southern town of Taxco.
About 3,000 miners at Cananea, Taxco and the small San Martin copper mine have defied a government order to go back to work and vowed to keep the mines closed until pay and conditions improve.
Workers put down their tools on July 30, nominally to protest safety conditions but also in a bid to win a long running feud between union boss Napoleon Gomez and Grupo Mexico.
Although the judge ruled Grupo Mexico cannot sack striking miners, as it had hoped, the company said the ruling also meant striking miners could not block the gates, meaning some workers could go back to work.
PROTEST BANNERS
Groups of striking miners stood outside Cananea's gates on Wednesday, beside black and red banners showing that a strike is in process.
Grupo Mexico called on the union to allow employees willing to work to enter the mine.
The union, which has added a 15-percent pay rise to its original demands, has said it will resist any attempt to break up the strike and fire workers.
The conflict has divided the union, and some workers at nine Grupo Mexico mines and plants have said they want to join a new, less combative labor organization.
It was not clear how many miners could oppose the union and return to work, but Grupo Mexico would also have the option of hiring contract laborers to help it reopen the mines.
Shares in Grupo Mexico closed down 4.36 percent at 62.70 pesos on a weaker Mexican share market.
Copper prices have been hit by a recent sell-off in worldwide financial markets, but continuing strong demand for the metal has cushioned the fall.
Copper for September delivery (HGU7: Quote, Profile, Research) settled 3.80 cents lower at $3.3320 a lb on Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
(Additional reporting by Catherine Bremer in Mexico City)
US Union Backs Mine Strike
WW4 Report
go to original
As of Aug. 11, some 13 union leaders from the US and Canada had arrived in Cananea, in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, to show support for striking miners there. According to Sergio Tolano Lizarraga, general secretary of Section 65 of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM), the US delegation was headed by Manny Armenta, a United Steelworkers (USW) leader in Arizona, with unionists from New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Ohio. The strikers say they also have support from workers from nearby states and from both the conservative Congress of Labor (CT) and the more independent National Workers Union (UNT).
SNTMMRM members went on strike on July 30 at Grupo Mexico mines in Cananea, in Taxco, Guerrero, and in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, over what they say are health and safety violations. On Aug. 7 the Federal Arbitration and Conciliation Council (JFCA) declared the strike a wildcat and gave the workers 24 hours to return to the mines. Under Mexican law, Grupo Mexico can replace the workers if they continue the wildcat. Union lawyers filed for an injunction against the decision. "It can't be possible that the labor authorities are allowing the company to go on murdering workers through negligence in safety issues," said SNTMMRM political affairs director Carlos Pavon. (La Jornada, Aug. 8, 10, 12, some from Notimex)
SNTMMRM staged a series of wildcats in 2006 after the federal government removed the union's leader, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia; two striking SNTMMRM steelworkers were killed in a fight with police in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, on Apr. 20, 2006.
In other labor news, on July 10 the September 19 Union, an independent local union affiliated with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), filed a petition with the Local Conciliation and Arbitration Board (JLCA) for title to the collective agreement at Vaqueros Navarra, a garment factory in Tehuacan, Puebla, in the southern state of Puebla. The plant currently has an "official" union affiliated with the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The independent union grew out of struggles in May over the amounts paid out in the company's profit sharing plan. The Tehuacan Valley Human and Labor Rights Commission (CDHL) is supporting the independent union. (Maquila Solidarity Network, Aug. 2)
The Puebla state government held CDHL president Martin Barrios Hernandez in jail on blackmail charges for two weeks at the beginning of 2006; he was released after pressure from national and international labor rights groups. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us