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 Business News | June 2008 
Mexico Miners' Union May Take Strike Vote This Week
 Andres R. Martinez - Bloomberg
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Mexico's biggest mining union may vote this week on whether to hold more strikes if the Labor Ministry doesn't officially recognize its leader's re-election.
"It is an irresponsible provocation," Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, the secretary general of the National Mining and Metal Workers Union, said on an Internet broadcast from Vancouver, where he lives in self-imposed exile. Gomez Urrutia has denied fraud charges he faces in Mexico tied to handling union funds.
The Mexican Labor Ministry withheld formal recognition of Gomez Urrutia's May 6 re-election to head the union after some workers challenged whether he can lead from Canada. The ministry said today it officially stopped recognizing Gomez Urrutia and the rest of the union's national board members on June 1, when their prior terms expired. Miners staged a one-day strike on May 26 to protest the government's position.
The ministry has said it needs 60 days to review the election results and complaints that were filed. Local unions that have problems with employers will have to meet with the ministry directly, the agency said in a statement.
Gomez Urrutia moved to Vancouver in 2006 to avoid charges in Mexico. He and the union have denied the fraud charges connected to the disappearance of $55 million from a miners' fund. Gomez Urrutia replaced his father, who led the union for 40 years.
$2.5 Billion
More than 19 strikes have occurred at mines in Mexico since 2006, including three at Grupo Mexico SAB projects. The walkouts have cost Mexican mining companies more than $2.5 billion, according to the Mexican Mining Chamber of Commerce.
The union represents workers at mines run by ArcelorMittal, Ternium SA, Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB, Industrias Penoles SAB and Grupo Mexico. Mexico is the world's second-largest producer of silver after Peru.
Strikes, including one at Grupo Mexico's Cananea copper mine that began on July 30, reduced output of the metal in the country during 10 of the past 13 months, according to the National Statistics Agency.
Miners held a nationwide general strike in January to protest a court order to reopen Cananea. The strike began as miners sought better pay and working conditions. Another 1,500 workers walked out at two other Grupo Mexico mines at the same time and remain on strike.
Grupo Mexico plans to close Cananea and spend $60 million on severance pay for workers there, the company said in April.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Mexico City at amartinez28(at)bloomberg.net. |
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