New Zealand unions protest Mexican government’s use of force against striking workers

Rep­res­ent­at­ives of the Engin­eer­ing, Print­ing and Man­u­fac­tur­ing Uni­on (EPMU), the Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) and the New Zea­l­and Coun­cil of Trade Uni­ons (CTU) delivered a let­ter to the act­ing Mex­ic­an Ambas­sad­or on Wed­nes­day 30 June 2010 express­ing deep con­cern at the Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment’s use of force against strik­ing work­ers in the Nation­al Miners’ and Metal­work­ers Uni­on of Mex­ico (Los Min­er­os).

The let­ter con­demns the assault by heav­ily armed riot police on strik­ing mem­bers of Los Min­er­os at the Cananea cop­per mine in Mex­ico earli­er this month.

On 6 June hun­dreds of Mex­ic­an riot police sur­roun­ded the mine and used tear gas to dis­lodge work­ers who were occupy­ing the entrances and to assault the uni­on office. More than 1000 mem­bers of Los Min­er­os were on strike over a long-run­ning dis­pute with the com­pany, Grupo Mex­ico, over health and safety and oth­er con­tract viol­a­tions.

Los Min­er­os repor­ted that three work­ers received gun­shot or pro­jectile wounds, and oth­ers had been beaten or were suf­fer­ing from the effects of the tear gas.

The let­ter urges the Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment to allow the elec­ted lead­er of the uni­on, Napoleón Gómez, to return to Mex­ico from exile in Canada and resume his pos­i­tion.

The act­ing Mex­ic­an Ambas­sad­or Luis Enrique Franco gave an assur­ance he would con­vey to his gov­ern­ment the deep con­cerns of the New Zea­l­and trade uni­on move­ment over the Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment’s treat­ment of the work­ers involved.

“We urge the Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment to allow the safe return of Napoleón Gómez, the elec­ted lead­er of the Nation­al Miners’ and Metal­work­ers Uni­on of Mex­ico, so he can resume his duties without fear of repris­al,” says the EPMU’s seni­or nation­al indus­tri­al officer Paul Tolich.

“The Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment needs to hon­our its com­mit­ments as a mem­ber of the United Nations’ Inter­na­tion­al Labour Organ­iz­a­tion (ILO) and guar­an­tee free­dom of asso­ci­ation for all Mex­ic­an work­ers,” says MUNZ gen­er­al sec­ret­ary Joe Fleet­wood.

The ILO has backed Los Min­er­os in the dis­pute say­ing that the Mex­ic­an gov­ern­ment has acted in a way that is incom­pat­ible with ILO Con­ven­tion No. 87 on Free­dom of Asso­ci­ation.