27 March, 2011
Industrial development in mining and manufacturing sectors will continue to be an essential part of economic development in Latin America, for both the economic giants of Brazil and Mexico and for the other countries in the region, such as Argentina, Peru, Chile and Venezuela.
Despite improvements over the last decade, poverty and inequality continue to be a major feature across the region both within and between countries. Ensuring the benefits of industrial and economic development flow to working people requires a strong and united trade union movement across all sectors, including in mining and manufacturing.
Commodities, particularly oil, silver, copper and iron ore, are generating a lot of wealth in the region and Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have led the way in also developing a significant manufacturing industry, particularly in automotive, petroleum and textiles, on the back of this wealth.
At the national level, the organization of companies often sees workers linked through highly integrated supply chains from one sector to the next. For example, in the Maquiladoras of Mexico there is a concentration of textiles, electronics and automotive parts production where workers face similar challenges in organizing and securing a fair share in the profits of the companies.
Solidarity between Mexico’s mine workers and automotive parts workers under the leadership of the Mexican Miners’ Union is creating opportunities for gaining freedom of association previously not achieved, as witnessed in the case of Johnson Controls in Puebla. After a long struggle and with the support of the Mexican Miners’ Union, Johnson Controls workers at the Resurrección plant in Puebla were able to join a union of their choice and through this union reach an agreement at the plant.
Meanwhile, in the Export Processing Zones of the Dominican Republic, textile and electronics workers live and work along-side each other facing many of the same problems and working conditions. Unions here have found that the same strategies are required to organize across both sectors. (See below Gertrudis Santana on cross-sector organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs.)
In Brazil, more than three million workers are employed by mining and manufacturing companies in a very integrated cross-sectoral process. From mine sites to the production lines of airplanes, ships, and cars, workers are organized by mine, chemicals, textiles, and metal workers’ unions that fight together for better work conditions and benefits.
For unions in Latin America and beyond, a strong international approach will also be required in tackling the transnational corporations that are emerging mostly from Brazil and Mexico in this region. Many of these “multilatinas,” such as Vale, Gerdau, Cemex, Grupo México, and Tenaris, have a notorious history of anti-union and poor labour relations, which is being exported by the companies as they expand regionally and globally.