AUT: Part 1, Mex Labor News, 16 Oct

[Dan La Botz <103144.2651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS                 Tlatelolco
October 16, 1998                                Massacre --   =

Vol. III, No. 18                                30 Years Later
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               About Mexican Labor News and Analysis

     Mexican Labor News and Analysis is produced in collaboration
with the Authentic Labor Front (Frente Autentico del Trabajo -
FAT) of Mexico and with the United Electrical Workers (UE) of the
United States and is published the 2nd and 16th of every month. =


     MLNA can be viewed at the UE's international web site:
HTTP://www.igc.apc.org/unitedelect/. For information about direct
subscriptions, submission of articles, and all queries contact
editor Dan La Botz at the following e-mail address:
103144.2651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx or call in the U.S. (513) 961-8722.
The U.S. mailing address is: Dan La Botz, Mexican Labor News and
Analysis, 3436 Morrison Place, Cincinnati, OH 45220.

     MLNA articles may be reprinted by other electronic or print
media, but we ask that you credit Mexican Labor News and Analysis
and give the UE home page location and Dan La Botz's compuserve
address.

     The UE Home Page which displays Mexican Labor News and
Analysis has an INDEX of back issues and an URGENT ACTION ALERT
section.

     Staff: Editor, Dan La Botz; Correspondents in Mexico: Bob
Briggs, Robert Donnelly, Peter Gellert, Jess Kincaid, Jorge
Robles, Don Sherman.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
     *Chiapas State Elections - by Jess Kincaid
     *Unions Remain Divided Over LFT Reform: Bloc Vs. ANT
     *CTM Leader Supports Bankers, Not Debtors
     *Mexican Teachers March Over Economy, Human Rights
     *Mexico City Water Workers Strike Against Cardenas =

          and Union Head
     *Flores to Dissolve Railroad Union, Create Weaker One
     *Democratic Telephone Workers Say Sub-Contracting Cost Jobs
     *Social Security Workers Union Elects Rocha New Leader
     *Han Young Workers Fight for Union Goes On
     *A Reflection on the Tlatelolco Massacre - by Salvador Zarco
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Dear Reader,

     This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the massacre
at Tlatelolco or the Plaza of the Three Cultures in Mexico City.
At the beginning of October, 1968 the government of Mexican
President Diaz Ordaz and Minister of the Interior Luis Echeverria
ordered the Mexican Army to suppress the democratic student
movement, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of students at
Tlatelolco. That event marked a turning point in modern Mexican
history, as millions of Mexicans, particularly younger Mexicans,
lost faith in the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the
Mexican state. A 30-year long struggle for democracy began and
continues today. =


     But Tlatelolco was also a turning point for labor, as many
young students and workers joined radical and revolutionary
organizations, and then went off to help organize peasants,
workers and the urban poor. Those young radicals helped to lead
the "worker insurgency" in the early 1970s, participated in the
"Democratic Tendency" of the Electrical Workers union (STERM) in
the mid-1970s, and helped to construct a new leftist political
movement in Mexico in the 1980s. Today, joined by younger
Mexicans, they continue to lead many of the struggles for reform,
and some still continue to organize for the revolution that will
not only topple the PRI but also bring social justice to Mexico. =


     Many of those same activists, now in their late 40s and
early 50s, participate in the Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD) or support of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
(EZLN), they work in the feminist movement and the gay and
lesbian organizations, and in the new labor organizations such as
the National Union of Workers (UNT), the Authentic Labor Front
(FAT), the May First Inter-Union Coordinating Committee (CIPM)
and the National Assembly of Workers (ANT), as well as scores of
other social movements.

     Those of the "generation of 1968" were joined by the
"generation of 1985," year of the Mexico City earthquake, and the
"generation of 1994," the year of the Zapatista uprising. The
students who died at Tlatelolco are not forgotten, their movement
continues today in the fight of the Han Young workers for an
independent union, in the fight of the Mayan Indians of Chiapas
who demand an end to repression and regional autonomy, in the
struggle of the women who fight against sexual harassment and to
decriminalize abortion, and in the workers' struggle for decent
wages and union democracy.

     We are pleased and proud to be able to carry in this issue
an interview with Salvador Zarco, a student activist of the
1960s, and a labor union activists ever since. We believe that
our readers will find it a small but important contribution to
the history of that period, and a moving testimonial to the on-
going struggle for democracy in Mexico. =


                         In solidarity,
                         Dan La Botz, editor.
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                    CHIAPAS STATE ELECTIONS:
            FLOODING, OCCUPATION AND MEXICAN DEMOCRACY

                         by Jess Kincaid

     Perhaps taking his cues from the American dish detergent
commercial, Governor Roberto Albores described the recent state
elections in Chiapas as 'virtually spotless.' While his
characterization contrasts severely with reports from elections
observers and the press, this year's voting was certainly calmer
than the burnt ballot boxes and violence that characterized the
1997 federal elections in this war-torn state.
 =

     In fact, the October 4th plebiscite may be the cleanest in
the history of Chiapas. Albores' party, the PRI, for the first
time officially received a minority of the votes cast, 48
percent. For Mexico's southernmost state, a traditional bulwark
of the PRI political machine where the party has been known to
obtain over 100 percent of the electorate in certain voting
districts, this is a change.

     While the Institutional Revolutionary Party did retain a
tight grip on the state's political offices, winning 18 of the 21
congressional seats in contention, as well as the presidencies of
78 of the 103 municipalities holding elections, electoral support
for the PRI is down from past years. Some analysts attribute this
to both an increased politicization of the electorate and a state
government trumped by local, national, and international pressure
into allowing the opposition to occasionally win.

                    Cleaner--but Still Dirty

     In conjunction with the opposition victories in many parts
of the country last year, including the left-center Party of the
Democratic Revolution's (PRD) ascension to the second-highest
political seat in the country with Cuauhtemoc Cardenas' victory
in Mexico City, this year's elections may reflect some alteration
of the political landscape. These signs, however, do not
necessarily point to a more democratic future for Mexico. =


     Reports indicate an abstention rate of approximately 60
percent on October 4th, and domestic and international elections
observers as well as the press reported serious violations on the
part of the ruling party. Running the spectrum from PRI electoral
propaganda being posted above the ballot box to PRI officials
purchasing electoral credentials and altering vote counts, to
known paramilitary members loyal to the PRI manning electoral
booths and frightening away opposition supporters, these
electoral violations illustrate a reality of continued
authoritarianism in the state.

     Even these breaches of fair play on the day of the vote,
however, do not reflect the most significant problems of the
election. The combination of biblical flooding with broad-based
military and paramilitary occupation of the state prevented the
possibility of free and fair elections as well as compliance with
state electoral law.

     According to reports on pre-electoral conditions from the
independent watch-dog organization the Civic Alliance (Alianza
Civica or AC), these two factors resulted in an estimated
fifty-nine percent of the electorate not being guaranteed the
minimum requirements for a free and fair electoral process as
defined by the United Nations.

                    The Politics of Flooding

     The floods resulted in seven of 24 state electoral districts
lacking conditions to allow for the participation of their
voters, representing 32 percent of Chiapas' electorate. Loss of
electoral credentials, the displacement of large numbers of
voters, and the inability of the state government to give notice
of the locations of voting booths and carry out other preparatory
activities in accordance with the law undermined the capacity to
hold elections in those districts. The State Electoral Council
recognized this situation in early public statements regarding
the upcoming elections, but suddenly reversed it's position 6
days later, choosing to suspend elections in only three of the
seven affected districts.

     That move has been criticized Mexican non-government
organizations and the opposition parties as a political decision
designed to assure that the state congress could be inaugurated
and the political fallout of delaying the state legislative
session avoided.

     State law maintains that in order to inaugurate the
congress, at least 21 of it's 40 members must be present. =

Twenty-four of the 40 congressional seats are elected directly by
districts and the remaining 16 seats are awarded using a
proportional representation system. Assuming that the 16
proportional seats would be awarded after special elections in
the suspended districts, limiting the suspension of elections to
three districts allowed for exactly 21 representatives to be
elected, the minimum for beginning the congressional session.

               Elections in an Occupied Territory

     In addition to the problems presented by the flooding, the
military and paramilitary occupation of much of the state as well
as the presence of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)
provided another severe impediment to fair and lawful elections
in Chiapas. Approximately 36 percent of the state's population
live in areas where armed groups are operating.

     With conservative figures placing the number of Mexican army
troops in Chiapas at over 50 thousand, and a violent paramilitary
apparatus operating throughout the Northern Zone and the Altos,
as well as expanding in other regions, an environment in which
citizens felt free to make their electoral decision was less than
guaranteed. A recent unpublished survey by the National Human
Rights Commission (CNDH) found that three quarters of Mexicans
living in army-occupied areas were frightened or uneasy about
their presence.

     In addition to the intimidation of armed groups as a
deterrent, some communities that form part of the Zapatista
movement to create indigenous autonomous municipalities also did
not participate in the vote. Many of the 32 autonomous
municipalities that have been declared since 1994 have set up
their own independent political structures and chosen authorities
using traditional methods. Given this situation and the
monolithic lack of trust of Mexican government by many indigenous
Chiapans, some chose to ignore the official electoral processes.

                              ###

          UNIONS REMAIN DIVIDED OVER LABOR LAW REFORM:
     UNIFIED LABOR BLOC VS. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF WORKERS

     Mexican labor unions remain divided over the question of
reform of the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

     The government-controlled Congress of Labor (CT),
Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), and the Revolutionary
Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC), and the semi-
independent National Union of Workers (UNT) have formed a
"Unified Labor Bloc" (Bloque Obrero Unificado) to negotiate with
management and the government over labor law reform. While not
opposed in principle to changes in the Federal Labor Law, the
Bloc remains critical of proposals coming from employer
associations, political parties and the government.

     At the same time, other unions have formed the National
Assembly of Workers (ANT) to oppose any change in the Federal
Labor Law at this time. The ANT is made up of two labor =

coalitions, the Mexican Union Front (Frente Sindical Mexicano or
FSM), a group of 21 union federations pulled together by the
Mexican Electrical Workers union (SME), and the May First Inter-
union Coordinating Committee (CIPM), an alliance of labor unions,
community organizations, and left wing parties. The ANT takes the
position that given the balance of forces in society, any attempt
at reform can only would lead to a defeat for labor, and that the
reforms being proposed represent an expansion of the neoliberal
model to labor law.
                              ###

               Rodriguez Alcaine, Head of CTM
               Supports Bankers, Not Debtors

     Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, head of the Confederation of
Mexican Workers (CTM), threw his support to the bankers rather
than to the debtors in the recent debate over a Supreme Court
ruling. =


     The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN), the nation's
highest court, recently ruled that banks may collect interest on
interest owed. The Supreme Court's decision strengthens the hand
of the Mexican banks in dealing with debtors' organizations such
as El Barzon, and with individual debtors.

     Rodriguez Alcaine, head of Mexico's largest and most
important state-controlled labor union federation, took the side
of Supreme Court and the bankers, rather than that of recently
impoverished farmers, the self-employed and small businessmen.
Rodriguez Alcaine, commenting on his support for the Court, said,
"He who spend has to pay; nobody has to become indebted." He also
criticized the militant national debtors' organization El Barzon,
saying, "it represents nobody, not even its mama."

     "It is completely irresponsible," said Rodriguez Alcaine,
"to spend what you don't earn, they are people who intend to
defraud the institutions which in good faith loaned their funds."
Rodriguez Alcaine claims that the debt issue does not affect
workers and peasants who do not borrow money from the banks, but
only from state housing programs.

                              ###

     MEXICAN TEACHERS MARCH AGAINST NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC MODEL
          MILITARIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

     Fifteen thousand teachers from Michoacan and Oaxaca marched
on October 12 over a number of issues, including opposition to
Mexico's neoliberal economic model, and demands to end
militarization and stop human rights violations.
     =

     About 10,000 members of Local 18 of the Mexican Teachers
Union (el SNTE) in Michoacan marched to demand a 27 percent wage
increase, while the State Secretary of Education is offering only
10 percent. Local 18 also opposed the proposed reform of the
Federal Labor Law, and objected to the educational legislation of
the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the state
legislature.

     At the same time in Juchitan, Oaxaca, some 5,000 teachers
marched to protest and give homage to teachers in that state who
have been "disappeared" because of their activities in the union
and in the social movements. Teachers demanded that Victor Pineda
Henestrosa (also known as Victor Yodo), Modesto Patoltzin Mocen,
and Gregorio Alfonso Alvarado Lopez be returned to their
families, schools and communities after 20, 10 and two years of
disappearance.
                              ###
               =

                    MEXICO CITY WATER WORKERS =

               STRIKE AGAINST UNION HEAD AND CARDENAS

     Mexico City's water workers, employed by the Department of
Hydraulic Operations, plan to begin a series of work stoppages
aimed both at their union leader and at the administration of
Mexico City mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. This is only the most
recent in a series of union actions against mayor Cardenas, the
most important leader of the Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD), and likely presidential candidate in 2000.

     During the first week of October, over a hundred water
workers demonstrated in front of the offices of the Sole Union of
Workers of the Government of the Federal District (SUTGDF) to
demand that their national leader Alfonso Rojo Guerrero attend to
their problems. The SUTGDF is affiliated with the dominant
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

     But the union also blames Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and his
administration for failing to create an adequate budget for the
Hydraulic Operations department. Consequently, says Rodrigo
Garcia Elizaldo, secretary of the politics for Local 2 of the
SUTGDF, there is inadequate maintenance of the drainage system,
and Mexico city has been having serious flooding problems.

     Workers also want wage increases to bring them up to the
levels to which they should be entitled by seniority and
training. Some workers earn as little as 800 pesos ($80) every
15-day pay period, or less than $40 per week.


                 VICTOR FLORES REPORTEDLY PLANS
          TO DISSOLVE RAILROAD UNION, CREATE WEAKER ONE

     Victor Flores Morales, head of the Mexican Railroad Workers
Union (STFRM), plans to dissolve the once powerful and important
industrial union and replace it with a weaker organization,
according to published reports.

     The Mexican daily LA JORNADA and other newspapers report
that Flores Morales has negotiated pacts with the new private
railroad companies (Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana,
Ferrocarril Mexicana, Ferrocarril del Sureste and Ferrocarril
Terminal Valle de Mexico) agreeing to dissolve the Mexican
Railroad Workers Union (STFRM) and replace it with the National
Union of Railroad Workers (Union Nacional de Trabajadores
Ferrocarrileros), a weaker organization.

     According to reports, the railroad workers headquarters on
Flores Magon avenue in Mexico City has been nearly abandoned, the
unions 500 employees have been laid off, and other union assets
are being liquidated. =


     Flores convened the Ninth Extraordinary National Convention
of Statutes, made up of two delegates from each of the 39 union
locals, to take place in Jalisco on October 12, and presumably to
decide or at least to accept the union's fate.

                              ###

          DISSIDENTS CRITICIZE TELEPHONE UNION LEADERSHIP;
           CLAIM LOSS OF JOBS BECAUSE OF SUB-CONTRACTING

     Jose Refugio Cano, a leader of the Telephone Workers for
Democracy (Corriente de Telefonistas por la Democracia or CTD)
caucus, argues that sub-contracting arrangements have cost at
least 4,000 union jobs. Cano claims that as much as 10 percent of
the union's members have been affected. According to Cano,
Francisco Hernandez Juarez, head of the Telephone Workers Union
(STRM) has approved an arrangement by which confidential
employees and subcontractors are doing union work. However, a
spokesman for the union leadership says that only one percent of
workers have lost their jobs, and that was due to retirement and
death, but that otherwise there are no losses in union positions.

                              ###

                    SOCIAL SECURITY WORKERS UNION
                       ELECTS ROCHA NEW LEADER

     Fernando Rocha Larrainzar was elected general secretary (top
officer) of the Mexican Social Security Workers Union (SNTSS) by
a vote of 723 votes to 140 at the union's convention in Merida on
October 9. Rocha, who had the support of out-going SNTSS general
secretary, Antonio Rosado Garcia, defeated Margil Yanez Munoz,
leader of the "independent" group in the union.

     Yanez Munoz had criticized Rosado Garcia and Rocha for
supporting privatization of the Mexican Institute of Social
Security (IMSS) and for stifling democracy in the union. But
Rosado Garcia's candidate Rocha won with the backing of the
union's executive board and its local union chiefs. =


     Yanez was a brother of the founder of the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation (EZLN), and that also became an issue in the
campaign which was marked by violent confrontations between the
opposing factions in several cities.
                    =

                              ###

END MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS PART 1, BE SURE TO GET PART 2


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