15 November, 2010
Leading negotiations from exile in Canada, General Secretary of ICEM-affiliate Los Mineros of Mexico, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia achieved wage gains for four locals of the union. Direct salaries were increased by 8% in each, apart from Section 269 in Guerrero, Mexico, where Los Mineros members saw their overall income increase 10%.
The negotiations were conducted in direct dialogue with company management, with no involvement by the Federal Ministry of Labour, a further indication that the Ministry is not regarded as able to fulfil its role as a fair adjudicator.
The 10% gains for Section 269 were achieved through bargaining with Canadian-owned Gold Corp, a producer of gold and silver. Direct salaries were increased 8% and additional social benefits were improved by 2%, including scholarships for workers’ children, among other advantages.
Los Mineros General Secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia
The 8% salary increases were achieved for members of Fraction 1 of Section 269 with employer Mineral Raw Materials in Puebla; members of Section 247, Western Jalisco, at Minera El Pilon; members of Section 16 in Coahuila, employed by coal producer Industrial Materials; and members of Section 274 at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas at the Sadcom de Occidente company.
The ICEM salutes these significant advances by Los Mineros for its members, in the face of continuing persecution by the government of Felipe Calderón.
Elsewhere in Mexico, last week the ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) launched a legal campaign, calling on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCHR) to investigate the continuing violation of Mexican workers’ rights to free association. The UE, together with the National Lawyers Guild and Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, are soliciting letters of support from labour, legal organizations, and law firms. See more here.
The letters will be filed to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, on 20 November.
View the ICEM’s letter here, which can serve as a model letter.