AUT: Part 2, Mex Labor News, 16 Sept 99

[Dan La Botz <103144.2651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS, SEPT 16, 1999, PART 2
                    BE SURE YOU HAVE PART 1

          NEW UNIONS PROLIFERATE IN PUBLIC SECTOR
            AS RESULT OF SUPREME COURT DECISION

     The Mexican Supreme Court decision earlier this year
permitting workers to form unions of their own choosing in the
public sector has led to a proliferation of new labor
organizations, it would appear.

     Under Secretary of Labor Javier Moctezuma Barragan reports
that 108 new unions have been registered, of which 56 belong to
the old labor federations, and 52 to independent unions. (Exactly
what independent means in this context is not clear; the term
 independent  is used to mean both unions organized by workers
outside of the government-controlled or corporative union, but it
is also sometimes used to refer to employer created or company
unions.) The Mexican press has also reported the organization of
at least a dozen new independent unions in the public sector,
many of which appear to be worker-led alternatives to the
government-controlled unions.

     The Federation of Unions of Workers at the Service of the
State (FSTSE), the government-controlled federation of public
employees, profoundly threatened by the outbreak of independent
union organizing efforts and fearing a break-up of the large and
powerful federation, has sought support from the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI).

     Javier Paz Zarza, a congressman of the National Action Party
(PAN) argues that the Supreme Court?s decision  will not lead to
the pulverization of the labor movement.  Responding to the
developments with his own report, Paz Zarza said,  Faced with the
out-dated attitudes of the eternal labor leaders, the workers
have opted to fight in favor of a new union model, democratic and
participatory, not as a luxury nor as mere dissent, but simply
because they demand respect and dignity for the workers.

      For decades,  said Paz Zarza,  public employees have been
obligated to join the Federation of Unions of Workers at the
Service of the State (FSTSE, a situation which was an insult
their dignity and a obstacle to their personal participation in
an organization which really represented their interests. He
pointed out that there have been  many cases of repression to
silence the legitimate aspirations of workers who wanted to join
organizations of their own choosing.

                         ###

FAT WORKERS PICKET CONGELADORA DEL RIO PLANT FOR FAIR CONTRACT;
     SEEK INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FROM U.S. LABOR UNIONS

     Fed up with the company´s excuses, since Friday Sept. 17th,
workers at Congeladora del Rio have been walking the picket line
outside their plant to demand a fair contract.

     On July 15 200 workers, the majority women and young teenage
girls, struck the Congeladora del Rio plant demanding a
settlement of their contract. The issue then went to the Federal
Board of Conciliation and Arbitration (JFCA), but the board
decided to table the demands of the strikers, leaving the workers
without the legal protection which Mexican labor law mandates.

     The workers union, which is affiliated with the Authentic
Labor Front (FAT), demands legal protection for its striking
members.

                    Protest and Picketline

     The strikers, who are suffering economically, are frustrated
with the behavior of the company and its representativeses. So
two workers have made the decision to sit outside the factory
gaits until the contract is signed. The rest of the workers are
also picketing at different hours.

     The company, once again, has called on the police to
intervene and use force if necessary. The police immediateley
responded to the company's call by sending armed guards to watch
over and thus intimidate workers with their presence.

     The strikers ask, Why does the company insist on denying the
right of workers to have an independent union, to have collective
bargaining rights, and the right to strike? Why does Congeladora
del Rio continue to pay miserable wages and employ child labor?

     The company recently bused in 25 workers from another town,
the majority underage females, to cross the picketline and work
at the Congeladoa del Rio plant.

     Given that Congeladora is a U.S.-based company, the FAT has
organized a campaign seeking international support. The FAT asks
that supporters send an e-mail, fax, and/or phone to Arthur
Price, President of Global Trading Inc. which owns Congeladora
del Rio, asking him to sign the contract with the workers at
Congeladore del Rio and to stop his direspectful treatment of
Mexican workers, especially women and children.

Arthur Price
< arthur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >.
fax: (864) 234-5815
tel: (864) 288-7332

Please send a copy of your e-mail to Arthur Prices´
representatives in Mexico at:
< gene@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > and
< jaime@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >.

We also ask that you send a message to the local government in
Mexico asking that the labor board recognize the strike at
Congeladora del Rio.

Send e-mails to Govenor Ramon Martin Huerta and Lic. Antonio
Obreson Padilla. Their e-mail is the same at:
< rpuente@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >.
fax: (001 47) 31-12-55 ; (011 47) 31-12-96

[The above information thanks to the Authentic Labor Front, FAT.]

                              ###

     FLIGHT ATTENDANTS UNION WINS 21% WAGE INCREASE;
          CTM NEGOTIATE CONTRACT FOR TAESA

     The Mexican Flight Attendants Union (ASSA) won a 21% wage
increase for its 1,500 members at Mexicana de Aviacion, averting
a strike. The wage increase came in the form of a 17.5 percent
increase in salaries, and a 3.5 percent increase in benefits. At
the same time Transportes Aeromar raised wages 20%, 17.5 in wages
and 2.5 in benefits.

     ASSA is headed by Alejandra Barrales Magdaleno, one of the
most prominent women leaders in the Mexican labor movement, and
an important figure in the National Union of Workers (UNT), the
independent labor federation.

     At the same time the 97 flight attendants who had been fired
by TAESA without cause, but presumably for their support of the
Flight Attendants Union, entered their fifth month of struggle
against that employer. They continued to leaflet very day at
TAESA ticket counters at the international airport in Mexico
City, a practice which the company concedes has hurt it.

     The flight attendants were fired for their support of ASSA
when that union was challenged by another union, The National
Union of workers and Employees of Air Transport of the Mxican
Republica (SNTETARM) which is affiliated with the Confederation
of Mexican Workers (CTM). The CTM union represents flight
attendants and a variety of other airport workers.

                         ###

          PEASANT ORGANIZATIONS IN CONFLICTS
               IN VARIOUS MEXICAN STATES

     Mexican peasants have been involved in conflicts in several
states. Amnesty International denounced death threats against
seven peasant union leaders, members of the People?s Worker
Peasant General Union (UGOCP). After accusing their union leaders
of corruption, the seven were beaten and threatened with death by
members of the  Santa Cruz group,  the union leadership caucus.
Amnesty International asserted that the attack took place with
the complicity of the authorities. Earlier the Santa Cruz group
had told the union dissidents they would lose their property and
possessions if they didn?t knuckle under.

               New Peasant Union Appears
                In Troubled San Quintin

     A new peasant union, the Organization of Proletarian
Struggle (OLP) appeared among the peasants of the San Quintin
valley in Baja California in late August. In a Manifesto the
group called upon day laborers to join the struggle  for a Mexico
free of foreigners and exploiters.  Enrique Ochoa of Tijuana is
named as the representative of the organization.

     Earlier in the same month the Secretary of the Interior (the
political police) and the secretary of Defense announced an alert
because of activities of the May First Labor Front (FO-PM or FO-
1M)in the same area. The FO-PM is supposedly affiliated with the
People?s Revolutionary Army (ERP), a left-wing guerrilla group.

     Agricultural Laborers Outnumber Peasants: Study

     According to a recent study by Sara Lara, a research at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) there are now
more day laborers than land-owning peasants in Mexico. While 5.2
million peasants work for wages, 3.5 million are either owners of
collective or communal lands (ejidatarios o comuneros). Of the
5.2 million day laborers, only 20 percent have regular fixed
employment. Some 327,000 are affiliated with the Mexican
Institute of social Security (IMSS) which provides health care
and pensions, according to IMSS reports.

                    PRESIDENT ZEDILLO
             OPPOSES CHILD LABOR IN THE FIELDS;
             BUT HIS POLICIES CONTRIBUTED TO IT

     Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo spoke out strongly against
child labor in the fields of Mexico in a speech in San Quintin,
Baja California on August 17. Child labor is forbidden under
Mexican labor law, said the president.  Employers must respect,
and workers must demand, that this right,  Zedillo told hundreds
of farm laborers on his visit to the areas which has been the
scene of two major farm worker riots in the last three years, as
well as reported organizing by radical labor unions affiliated
with underground revolutionary groups.

      Let us be more energetic with regard to the labor rights of
agricultural laborers,  said the president to local state and
federal authorities, noting that it is common to see children
working in the fields, a practice which the president called
unacceptable. Children, he said, belong in school.

     While president Zedillo?s strong condemnation of child labor
will be welcomed among children?s, workers? and human rights
advocates, it must also be recognized that throughout his six-
year presidential term, Zedillo?s administration failed to police
and put a stop to the wide-spread practice of child labor in
agriculture. Few if any employers or labor contractors have been
indicted, tried and jailed for the crime of employing child
labor, nor have union leaders who permitted it been prosecuted.
Had a few employers been imprisoned the practice might have
lessened.

     Ironically, though there are never enough inspectors to
police the fields to prevent child labor, the first signs of
peasant discontent and radical labor union organizing lead to
immediate deployment of secret police and military intelligence
to the farm lands.

     Zedillo in his lecture to the farm workers, did not talk
about raising wages for the parents of the child laborers, whose
terribly low incomes and consequent privation and hunger become
the driving force behind child labor. Zedillo?s administration,
like many before it, adhered to a low-wage policy intended to
attract investment by foreign and domestic capital, a policy
which indeed contributed to the child labor problem.

     Some 40,000 farm workers pass through the San Quintin valley
each year, most of them from Oaxaca, Guerrero and Sinaloa, and
thousands of their children frequently work in the field with
them. The practice has been promoted and accepted by employers,
sometimes defended by labor unions, and seldom seriously
challenged by the government.

     The farm laborers in San Quintin are reportedly nearly all
indigenous people, 86.6 percent Mixtecs, 5.9 percent Triquis, and
3.7 percent Zapotecs, and 1.0 percent Tarascans. Two percent come
from other ethnic groups. These ethnic groups are among some of
the poorest people in Mexico, and problems of child labor,
illiteracy and hunger are widespread among them.

                              ###

          MAQUILADORAS GREW BY 9.4 PERCENT IN FIRST HALF;
                 SCORES OF NEW PLANTS PLANNED

     Maquiladoras, also known as in-bond or twin plants, most of
which remain located along the U.S.-Mexico border, continued to
be the fastest growing sector of the Mexican economy, expanding
by almost 10 percent in the first six months of this years.

     The Mexican Institute of Statistics (INEGI) reports that the
maquiladoras grew by 9.4%, compared to the same period last year.
At the same time employment in the maquiladoras rose by 11.8
percent and reached 1,096,619 persons.

     The growth in employment by job category was as follows:
technical staff increased 15.7 percent; male workers up 13.4
percent; administrative and office employees up 11.1 percent; and
female workers up 9.6 percent. These figures indicate that the
long term trend toward an increase in male workers and a decrease
in female workers continues. Still more women than men work in
the industry. The industry also shows a tendency toward
increasing employment of technical, administrative, and office
workers, relative to industrial workers.

                     Wages not Low,  Boss

     Humberto Inzunza Fonseca, president of the National Council
of the Maquiladora Export Industry (CNIME)recently stated that
maquiladora workers? wages  are not low.  Beginning workers earn
2.5 minimum wage, he claimed. According to the Mexican Institute
of Statistics (INEGI) maquiladora workers? wages fell by l.6
percent in real terms by April of this year, the last period for
which information was available. Administrative workers wages
rose by 2.6 percent, while technical workers? wages fell by 0.3
percent. Benefits rose by 6.2 percent.

     Non-governmental organizations and unions suggest that the
typical maquiladora factory operative earns less than US$4.00 per
day. Such workers may also receive free transportation and meals.

     Over one-third of all maquiladora manufacture and assembly
involves electrical and electronics products. At present, the
maquiladora industry breaks down by industrial sector as follows:
manufacture of electrical and electronics goods, 27.6 percent;
manufacture of auto parts, 19.8 percent; manufacture of garment
and textile, 15.5 percent; other manufacturing industries, 10.87
percent; assembly of electrical and electronics, 9.5 percent;
other manufacture or assembly, 16,.9 percent.

                  Highly Productive Plants

     Maquiladoras are highly productive plants, producing for the
U.S. and world market. To take just one example, RCA-Thomson, one
of the first firms to build in Ciudad Juarez some thirty years
ago, produces one television set every 20 seconds, or three sets
per minute. The firm employs some 13,000 workers in four plants,
who not only produce televisions, but also service televisions in
need of repair for Sears, K-Mart and Circuit City in the U.S.

                    Plans for new Plants

     Mexican newspapers in the last month announced plans for the
opening of many more maquiladoras throughout Mexico. Once
confined to the border region, today maquiladoras plants exist in
many states. Here are just some of the announcements:

     *Ten new plants will begin operations soon in Reynosa, among
them Minisota and Novelinn. Reynosa is among the oldest of the
maquiladora centers.

     *Qualsew-Ilc will invest 2 million dollars to establish a
garment plant making shirts in Villahermosa, Tabasco.

     *Guilford Mills, a textile firm, is among several that have
invested in the Puerto Morelos Industrial Park in Cancun,
Quintana Roo.

     *Yucatan Venture, an affiliated of U.S.-based Livingston
Apparel, has begun construction in Dzemul, Yucatan.

     *Six maquiladoras will open in Guerrero, three in Iguala,
and three others in the towns of Chaucingo, Mayanalan and
Huitzuco. Those six will be joined by 24 others in the near
future for a total of 30 new plants.

     Rise in Crime Leads to Helicopter Taxi Service for Execs

     The high crime levels in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, across
the border from El Paso, have led the management of some 40
maquiladora plants to hire helicopter services both for
surveillance of plants, equipment and employees, and to taxis
U.S. workers, many of them executives, managers, and supervisors,
to their jobs across the border. Juarez has some 400 maquiladora
plants, and almost 300,000 workers. U.S. managers typically live
in El Paso and commute across the border to Juarez each day,
returning at night to their homes.

                              ###

                    MINERS AND METAL WORKERS
               SETTLE CONTRACT WITH CANANEA AT 16%

     The Miners and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMRM) settled its
contract with the Mexicana de Cananea mining company, receiving a
16 percent wage increase. This was close to the 15.7% average won
by workers in some 303 wage negotiations covering 175,000 workers
in July. This settlement is substantially below last years which
were in the area of 21%, suggesting the government is setting a
new wage ceiling in the area of 15%.

                              ###

               RETIRED RAILROAD WORKERS ACCUSE
               VICTOR FLORES MORALES OF FRAUD

     Victor Aguilar Castro of the Organization of Retired
Railroad Workers of the Mexican Republic (OTFJRM), a recently
organized union of retired and pensioned railway workers, has
accused Victor Flores Morales, head of the Mexican Railroad
Workers Union (STFRM) of having defrauded the pension fund of
money, and used those funds for his own use. The retirees have
asked the Mexican national railways to free their union dues
which are turned over to the union. Retired railroad workers have
also brought legal charges against their union leader for
embezzlement, though the Mexican Attorney General has declined to
act on the matter.

     At the same time, Congressman Javier Paz Zarza of the
National Action Party (PAN) has demanded an investigation into
the funds of the Mexican National Railway (FERRONALES), to look
into irregularities in the process of privatization which look
place over the last several years.

                         ###

            PRISONERS STRIKE FEDERAL DISTRICT JAILS;
                 DEMAND BACK PAY DUE FOR WORK

     Some 200 prisoners in Federal District jails began a sit-
down strike on September 3. The law and regulations provide that
prisoners will be paid for their work cleaning prison facilities.
The prisoner workers have not been paid for months, spokespersons
for the movement said. The prisoners? money goes to help support
their families while they are behind bars. While the total number
of prisoners is 17,224, only 200 have been involved in the
strike, authorities said. Prisoners informed the news media of
their strike by calls and letters.

SOCIAL STATISTICS

Half of all Mexicans in Informal Sector

     Half of all Mexicans work in the informal sector, reports
Under Secretary of Labor, Javier Moctezuma Barragan. The informal
sector, that is businesses without legal registration, with no
social security, and with no labor unions, employ 19 million of
Mexico?s 38 million workers. But some 56.2 percent of all
Mexicans, more than 21 million people, must be considered
underemployed because they do not work full-time, according to
the Group of Associated Economists(GEA). (Elizabeth Velasco c.,
 Mas de 21 millones de mexicanos viven de la economia informal:
GEA,  LA JORNADA, Sept. 6, 1999.)

Inflation and Real Wages

     Mexican workers? wages fell 25% in terms of real purchasing
power, according to the Fifth Government Report (Quinto Informe
del gobierno). Put another way, while inflation rose at a rate of
187.3% between July 94 and July 99, the minimum wage rose only
128%. In Mexico, the minimum wage forms the basis for most other
wage and salary negotiations, and consequently stagnation in the
minimum ramifies throughout the system. (Sergio Miranda G.,
 Salarios Reales, Deprimidos,  EXCELSIOR, Sept. 6, 1999.)

     But according to the Center of Multi-disciplinary Analysis
(CAM) of the Economics Department the National Autonomous
University of Mexico (UNAM), during the five-years of president
Ernesto Zedillo?s administration, minimum wages have fallen 47.6
percent. (Maria Esther Ibarra,  Ha perdido el salario 47.6% de su
poder adquisitivo: CAM,  LA JORNADA Sept. 6, 1999.)

     Similarly Jesus Escamilla of Economists Projection 2000
found that purchasing power fell 47.6 percent in the last five
years. (Juse Luis Tellez,  Cayo 47.6 el Poder Adquisitivo en los
Primeros 5 Anos de la Gestion Zedillista: Jesus Escamilla,
EXCELSIOR, Sept. 3, 1999.)

Unemployment

     Mexico?s official unemployment rate of 2.5 percent gives it
one of the lowest unemployment rates in Latin America and in the
world. (Robert Taylor,  Tiene Mexico una de las tasas de desmpleo
mas baja en el largo plazo en el mundo,  reprinted from the
FINANCIAL TIMES in EL UNIVERSAL.)

     Mexico has approximately 12 million underemployed workers,
according to Pablo Alvarez Icaza, director of economic studies
for Bursametrica. (Felipe Gazcon,  Cerca de 12 millones de
mexicanos en el subempleo,  EL FINANCIERO 22 August 1999.)

     There are 300,000 young people without work in Mexico City,
according to congresswoman Angeles Correa de Lucio of the Party
of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). (Rafael Gonzalz,  Sin empleo,
300 mil jovenes, dice el PRD,  EL UNIVERSAL, 22 August 1999.)

Poverty

     The National Council of Population (CONAPO) warned in late
August that over the last 20 years low wages and incomes had led
to increasing poverty and increasing economic inequality among
Mexicans. Some 80 percent of Mexican families registered a loss
of real monetary income between 1977 and 1996. The number of
families dependent upon economic transfers from the United States
also grew from 5.9 to 11.8 percent in the same period.
(Guillermina Guillen,  La pobreza constituye un riesgo para la
estabilidad politics, advierte Conapo,  EL UNIVERSAL, 29 August
1999.)

Social Struggles

     Out of 3,512 strike notifications in the first seven months
of 1999, only 20 ended in actual strikes, according to the
Mexican Secretary of Labor (STPS). (Juan Antonio Zuniga M.,  Hubo
solo 20 paros laborales de enero a julio de este ano,  LA
JORNADA, Sept. 4.)

     Labor contract wage negotiations declined in the month of
August by 10 percent, and averaged 15.7 percent, according to the
Mexican Secretary of Labor. Wage gains fell from about 17.5
percent in January. (Arturo Gomez Salgado,  Decremento de 10% en
las revisiones contractuales,  EL FINANCIERO, Sept. 1, 1999.)

END MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS, VOL. 4, NO. 14, SEPT 16, 99


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