feb1mex CTM UNION STRIKES TEN MAQUILADORAS 13,000 WORKERS PARALYZE PRODUCTION by Dan La Botz Thousands of workers in Matamoros, Tamaulipas stopped work in mid-January paralyzing production in electronic and autoparts assembly plants known as maquiladoras. Over 13,000 workers, two- thirds of them women, participated in the strike at 10 plants, most of them owned by multinational corporations. In other plants workers engaged in escalating work stoppages of up to two hours at a time. The strikes and work stoppages, called by the Union of Laborers and Industrial Workers (Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales - SJOI) lasted from January 14 to 16. SJOI is an affiliate of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). This short strike over the issue of higher wages is the first major strike in the maquiladoras in several years, and may be another sign that Mexico's old industrial relations regime is changing dramatically and rapidly. The union lifted the strike in part because of the intervention of Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, head of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, who called for a return to negotiations. Some reports indicate that the union has extended negotiations until February 16. However, Marco A. Valenzuela of the National Council of the Maquiladora Export Industry (CNIME) reported on January 21 that the strike had been settled by granting wage increase of 25 to 29 percent, raising workers' wages from 70 to 95 pesos per day. (Eight Mexican pesos=about one U.S. dollar.) Other sources say the settlement was twenty percent, or six percent above the government's minimum wage increase. An Escalating Strike The SJOI called the strike on January 14 against five maquiladoras: Lucen Technologies, Gobar, Fabricacion Technologica de Mexico, Sunbeam and the General Motors subsidiary Componentes Mecanicos. Some 6,500 employees stopped work bringing production to a halt. The next day the union struck another five plants, all affiliates of General Motors corporation's Delphi division, bringing the total number of workers on strike to 13,000, or almost one third of the 45,000 maquiladora workers who labor in 100 plants in Matamoros. The strike was supported by work stoppages in other plants. Agapito Gonzalez Cavazos, the head of the SJOI, threatened to extend the strike from the 10 to another 50 plants if the employers did not meet the union's demand for a 27 percent wage increase. The Mexican government and employers have been trying to keep wage increases in the area of 17 to 20 percent. The maquiladora employers offered 20 percent. The union is also demanding the "English week," that is a five-day work week with two days off. Many Mexican workers put in five and a half or six days a week. Gonzalez Cavazos declared that his union would carry out a general strike of the city's maquiladora plants if its demands were not. All Matamoros maquiladora workers belong to the SJOI. This is not the first time that Gonzalez Cavazos, or Agapito as he is usually called, has stood up against the corporations. After violent riots in Matamoros in the early 1980s, Agapito began to resist the corporations, and over the years his union became one of the few in Mexico with a 40-hour work week and significantly higher wages than other maquiladora unions. In 1992 Agapito's SJOI also pressed the employers on economic issues. During those contract negotiations, the Mexican government helped the employers by arresting Agapito for tax evasion and carrying him off to Mexico City in order to remove him from the scene in Matamoros. However after the 1992 experience, Fidel Velazquez, then head of the CTM, began to back Leocadio Mendoza, a rival leader of the SJOI. Mendoza came to control about half of the union contracts, giving employers a 48-hour work week and lower wages. We are informed by sources on the border that in this case Mendoza accepted management's offer, while Agapito's half of the union struck. Maquiladora Owners Condemn Strike Rene Gonzalez Rascon, the president of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (CANACINTRA) condemned the strike for having destroyed in just a few days the economic stability which was the result of years of work. Head of the Association of Maquiladoras of Matamoros, Rolando Gonzalez Barron, accused the union of "...returning to its pressure tactics of 40 years ago." Gonzalez Barron said that the SJOI had caused economic instability in Matamoros, leading 33 companies with 10,000 jobs to leave the area between 1991 and 1993. Many companies, he said, prefer to relocate to Reynosa. Among the many companies which he says left Matamoros because of its labor union, Gonzalez Barron mentioned Fisher Price, Industrias Thompson and Internacionales Johnson. Along the Mexican border where most of the maquiladoras are located, there are some areas which have no unions and others which have CTM unions or other "official" labor unions which maintain a "low profile," and do not really attempt to raise wages or benefits or to improve workers' working conditions. Management evidently prefers the union-free environment or do- nothing unions to the somewhat more aggressive unions of Matamoros. Gonzalez Barron said that most employers had offered wage increases of between 20 and 28 percent. The wage increase generally being offered was 20 percent for the 55 maquiladoras involved, he said. Rolando Jimenez, a third shift worker from one of the plants said that it's easy for some people to criticize the strike, but one can't live on a wage of 63 pesos per day. The cost of living in Mexico tends to be higher along the U.S.-Mexican border. Pressure on the Maquiladoras Employers The Matamoros maquiladora strike comes only a few weeks after a successful organizing effort by the Independent Metal Workers Union (STIMACHS) affiliated with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT) at the Han Young-Hyundai auto assembly plant in Tijuana, Baja California Norte. STIMACHS won two representation elections among Han Young workers, and then, with the help of the San Diego-based Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, pressured the employer and the Baja California labor board to recognize the union. Another form of pressure on the maquiladora industry has come through legal channels. Last month the U.S. Labor Department found that thousands of maquiladoras administer pregnancy tests to women to screen out pregnant applicants, and also coerce pregnant workers to force them to resign. U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman said the discrimination against pregnant women seemed to violate Mexican law. But she stopped short of calling those practices an illegal violation of the Mexican Constitution and Federal Labor Law which prohibit sex discrimination. The charges had been brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) side agreements which established a National Administration Office (NAO) as part of the U.S. Labor Department to hear such charges. The charges were made by Human Rights Watch and other U.S. and Mexican human rights and labor rights organizations. International labor solidarity is also becoming an important factor in support for the maquiladora workers. While unions such as the United Electrical workers (UE) and the International Brother of Teamsters have been working with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), the AFL had generally held aloof from such efforts. But in his recent visit to Mexico, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, "We want to stand with you to organize workers in the maquiladoras beginning with the guarantee of an authentic union for the Han Young workers in Tijuana." In addition, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) recently decided to work with its Mexican affiliates and other labor unions and non-governmental organizations to support maquiladora organizing. The IMF plans to organize a conference on "Organizing in the Maquiladoras." These efforts at international solidarity will be tremendously important for the maquiladora worker. Economic Importance of Maquiladoras According to Marco A. Valenzuela, president of the National Council of the Maquiladora Export Industry (CNIME) Mexico has 3,833 maquiladora assembly plants employing one million workers. Maquiladora production, he asserts, makes up 40 percent of Mexico's total exports, and of the 110 billion U.S. dollars in foreign sales in 1997 the maquiladoras accounted for 42 billion. He predicts that there will be 5,000 maquiladoras by the year 2000. The Mexican Secretary of Commerce (SECOFI) gives somewhat different figures up through the month of November 1997. According to SECOFI Mexico had 3,819 maquiladoras employing 971,321 workers. Of all maquiladoras, according to SECOFI, 1,665 or 43.6 percent are owned by Mexican capital; 1,459 with U.S. capital; 448 with mixed U.S.-Mexican capital; 66 are Japanese; and the rest are owned by capital from other foreign countries. According to SECOFI the total value of maquiladora exports for 1997 was 4.18 billion dollars, making up 42.5 percent of Mexican exports. A Disastrous Social Situation While maquiladoras make up an important contribution to the Mexican economy, this is seldom reflected in the lives of maquiladora workers. In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, some 400 maquiladoras provide employment to 200,000 workers, 65 percent of whom are women. Most workers earn an average of 26 pesos per day, or about U.S.$3.25. In Juarez, the ten-hour day and the six day week prevail. Juarez's government and employers simply do not permit union organization. Of 20 attempts to register unions since 1986, all have been rejected. The police generally break up workers movements for union recognition. Companies maintain blacklists of workers who participate in or sympathize with union organizing efforts. All economic development in Juarez revolves around the needs of the maquiladoras and the industrial parks in which they are located. Consequently while fine roads lead to modern industrial parks, social problems abound in Juarez. Half of all births in Juarez are to single mothers under 20 most of whom are maquiladora workers. The city has a deficit of 70,000 housing units, but 100 maquiladoras have sought an injunction against payments to INFONAVIT, the workers' housing program, claiming the national program is unconstitutional. The pressure of human rights organizations pursuing legal cases under the NAFTA side agreements, the organization of independent unions, and most important the unions' and workers' exercise of economic power through work stoppages and strikes could begin to change all of that, and it appears to be beginning to happening. ### HAN YOUNG WORKERS' UNION IN TALKS WITH MANAGEMENT; BUT NO NEGOTIATIONS YET; ACTIONS PLANNED FEB. 7 The Han Young workers' new independent labor union has held informal talks with management, but contract negotiations have not yet begun. Last month the Mexican federal government, the Baja California labor board, the Hyundai corporation, the Han Young company and the workers reached an agreement recognizing the workers' union, after it had won two representation elections at the Tijuana maquiladora plant. Under the terms of that agreement, the Han Young company which produces exclusively for Hyundai, was to begin contract negotiations with the new union. The workers voted to join the Independent Metal Workers Union (STIMAHCS) which is affiliated with the Authentic Labor Front (FAT). The campaign was won both through the determination of the maquiladora workers and the support of the San Diego-based Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers. But despite two representation elections and the agreement reached last month, the Han Young company continues to violate both that agreement and Mexican labor law. The Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers and the Campaign for Labor Rights have prepared to hold local protest demonstrations throughout the United States on February 7 to support the workers and keep pressure on the company. Demonstrations will be held at the Mexican consulates or at government buildings, though organizers say these are not demonstrations against any government. In addition, the National Administrative Office of the U.S. Labor Department which oversees the labor side agreements to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will hold hearings on the Han Young case on February 18. The Support Committee and the Campaign for Labor Rights urges supporters of the maquiladora workers to send a fax such as that below to Han Young's attorney: Lic. Ricardo Estrada Tijuana, Mexico Fax: 011-526-634-3554 Dear Mr. Estrada: In open defiance of the January 14 agreements signed by your client, Han Young, a representative of the CROC continues to be allowed to function in a "human relations" capacity at the factory. Also, management continues to take illegal punitive actions against workers who press for contract negotiations to begin. Han Young management has cited you as its counsel when blatantly violating Mexican labor law and blatantly violating the terms of the existing contract. You have a reputation as an intelligent and knowledgeable lawyer. Certainly, you would not want to risk your professional stature for the sake of one rogue client, the Han Young management. The Mexican federal government has emphatically stated its intention to enforce the terms of the January 14 agreements and to implement Mexican labor law with regard to the Han Young situation. Barring a satisfactory resolution of the situation at Han Young, the U.S. National Administrative Office will press forward with its hearing still scheduled for February 18. I hardly need to remind you of the urgency which the Mexican government feels about resolving this situation and avoiding a hearing. Time is running short. I urge you to steer your client in a direction which will not put you on a collision course with the Mexican federal government. Please see to it that Han Young management immediately ceases its violations of the January 14 agreements and its violations of Mexican labor law. Sincerely, CC: Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, fax: (619) 295-5879 ----- [Based on a report by Labor Alerts from Information provided by the Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, who ask that activists seeking updates contact Campaign for Labor Rights: (541 344-5410, ]. FARM LABORERS RIOT IN SINALOA Some 150 agricultural laborers rioted and destroyed buildings and equipment at the Bon Bustamante packing plant at Estacion Bamoa, Guasave, Sinaloa on January 19. The company employs 4,800 laborers, most of them from the southern states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacan and Hidalgo. The rampaging workers burned a tractor, damaged five trailers, broke windows and destroyed buildings to protest Bon Bustamante's failure to pay them 40 pesos per day as they had been promised. The company had instead been paying them only 35 pesos per day. (Eight pesos=about one U.S. dollar.) From five until nine in the morning the workers armed with metal tubes, iron bars, and stones moved through the packing plant shutting down operations. After bringing production to a halt, they began to demolish the building and vehicles belonging to the company. Then they went through the town shouting and threatening those who got in their way. The workers only agreed to cease their activities when the company accepted Ricardo Armenta Beltran, a congressman of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) as a mediator. Armenta Beltran said the workers wanted their 40 pesos per day plus transportation and medical care. They also demanded that the company stop deducting union dues, because they did not want to belong to the union of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). The mayor of Guasave, Jaime Saul Leyva Diaz sent 20 patrol cars and 160 police to protect the company and its property. The farm workers broke the windows of at least one police car.