Mexico

  • Mexico: Union Strikes and Blockages Back Fired Electrical Workers

    Electrical utility workers in Mexico called for a national strike yesterday to support their fight against the liquidation of their company, and some of the country’s more militant unions responded—including by blocking highways. Police responded with tear gas and violence.

  • Support Miners in Three Countries
    Labor Notes Staff
    Feb 26 2010 - 5:40am

    Copper miners occupying pits in northern Mexico are bracing for an invasion by federal troops after refusing to give up their two-and-a-half year strike. In Southern California, borate miners are locked out, insisting that the good union jobs don't become “junk jobs.” And in Ontario, nickel miners are in the same fight, holding strong after six months on pickets. Show your solidarity today.

  • Bloodshed Feared as Mexican Mine Company Asks Army to Dislodge Strikers
    by Enku Ide
    Feb 12 2010 - 7:11pm
    Class war in Northern Mexico, being fought in the Cananea copper mine, could soon turn much bloodier. The Mexican government is going after 13,000 striking miners determined to hold their ground—and their mines.
  • Mexican Mine Company Attempts to Buy Workers it Could Not Beat
    by Dan La Botz
    Jan 27 2010 - 1:46pm

    Unable to break the Mexican miners union at Cananea, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, the mine owner is now trying to buy the workers with a big severance package.

  • U.S., Canadian Delegation Supports Embattled Mexican Electrical Workers

    A delegation of U.S. and Canadian labor leaders visited Mexico November 29-December 3 in solidarity with fired electrical workers of the former Light and Power Company. On October 11 President Felipe Calderón sent police to occupy the facilities of the government-owned company and fired its 44,000 workers, attempting to break the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) because the union has stood in the way of Calderón’s effort to privatize the entire electrical industry.

  • Lean Production Is Alive and Well in Mexico

    Chris Kutalik reported here recently that there’s something called the “lean community,” which exists to (1) spread the gospel of lean production and (2) make sure the name of lean is not blasphemed. “It’s not about speedup! Workers love lean production!”

  • National Work Stoppage in Mexico Demands Reversal on Power Co. Takeover
    Dan La Botz
    Nov 13 2009 - 4:36pm

    Tens of thousands of Mexican workers joined a national work stoppage to restore the Electrical Workers union, but despite large and militant protests, it's unlikely the government will be moved.

  • Mexican Electrical Workers Hold Out Against Government Raid
    Labor Notes staff
    Nov 20 2009 - 12:01am

    “The Mexican Government has declared war on the union movement,” according to Margarita de la Cruz, a leader of the Mexican Electrical Workers. Last month, 500 federal police seized 100 power facilities around Mexico City in a move to fire workers, privatize the industry, and outlaw the union that represented 43,000 active and 22,000 retired workers.

  • Mexican Electrical Union Calls for National Strike
    Dan La Botz
    Oct 24 2009 - 1:12am

    Leaders of the besieged Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) are calling on other unions throughout Mexico to mount a national strike to force the government to revoke its liquidation of the Light and Power Company. The union called for a strike after walking out of negotiations with the government, talks leaders characterized as a “farce.”

  • Mexican Government Seizes Power Plants, Liquidates Dissident Union
    Dan La Botz
    Oct 13 2009 - 5:24pm

    Over the weekend Federal Police seized the plants of the Central Light and Power Company of Mexico, which provides electricity to Mexico City and several states in central Mexico.