19 October, 2009
The Mexican government of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa surprised many nine days ago by sending federal agents and police in to take over the country’s second largest electrical power distributor, Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC) or Central Light and Power. Calderón used an executive decree to dissolve the debt-ridden utility, but in doing so he also sacked the entire 60,000 LyFC workforce, and disbanded their union, the 95 year old, Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME).
The action to bust SME disturbed many in the global union movement, as well as activist groups that monitor trade union rights within Mexico, but did not come as a surprise, considering the repressive measures taken by Calderón against trade unions.
In July, SME members re-elected Secretary-General Martín Esparza, but the government has refused to certify the election, citing voting irregularities. But the real reason for the government’s elimination of SME is the union leadership’s opposition to Calderón’s economic policies, specifically regarding privatisation of the utility. Not incidentally, Esparza’s opponent in last summer’s elections, Alejandro Munoz, has joined with Esparza in condemning the takeover and has pledged to resist the dissolution.
In a joint letter last week to Calderón by the ICEM and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), General Secretaries Manfred Warda and Jyrki Raina called the action “retaliatory because the leadership of the union opposed your anti-worker, anti-societal economic policies.” See the letter here.
The non-affiliated SME, which has not taken many strides to join the global trade union movement, deserves the support of unions everywhere because it has now become a victim of the current Mexican government’s systematic plan to eliminate any workers’ group which stands in the way of business interests and unencumbered markets.
The SME has vowed to resist through peaceful methods the late-night, 10 October takeover, which was carried out by military police. The government has already offered redundancy packages, with the maximum up to 33 months pay, and said it would recall 10,000 of the electrical workers. But the SME has urged workers to reject the packages, and to participate in peaceful manifestations, the latest of which occurred on 15 October, when 100,000 people marched through Mexico City and gathered in the City’s main square the Zocalo. The full day of large scale demonstration passed without incident and was widely supported in the capital, including from the left-wing city government.
The huge manifestation of 15 October coincided with an international trade union forum on the issue of Multinational Corporations and their Protection Collective Agreements, sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert (FES) Foundation of Germany. The contracts represent an enormous obstacle to free trade unionism in Mexico, and allow companies to sign ‘collective’ agreements on work conditions and salaries, without including workers in negotiations, and without workers even being aware of the agreement made in their name. Calderón’s government encourages this practice and continues to block new democratic unions by repeatedly delaying official recognition for years, blacklisting trade unionists, and allowing company managements to act with impunity. The Forum issued a statement of solidarity with the SME.
A noteworthy statistic in Mexico is that 95% of companies have a collective agreement, whereas union membership in the country is at 10%, clearly the vast majority of collective agreements are signed with yellow unions. Many union leaders are millionaires, due to mafia-style deals with management. Visit the campaign website here.
The Calderón government has temporarily rolled LyFC’s day to day operations into the country’s largest utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, from which LyFC buys most of its generated capacity, but the speculation is that LyFC will now be sold to private sources. LyFC serves Mexico City and portions of the surrounding states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Morelos, and Puebla.