6 April, 2011The second district labour court in Mexico issued an order to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to proceed with the registration of the United Workers' Union of Honda.
MEXICO: On March 28 the second district court issued a verdict obliging the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (STPS) to proceed to legal registration of the union the Mexican United Workers' Union of Honda (STUHM). Since its establishment back in 2009, the union has been struggling to gain official recognition. According to the STUHM Executive Committee the Ministry's recent reason for denial of the registration was based on the failure of the union "to provide evidence on the existence of their company" where they operate.
At the press conference following the announced court verdict STUHM leaders expressed their discontent with the Ministry's recurring absurd manoeuvres aimed at denying or delay the registration and declared that it illustrates the "rabid" anti-union policy of the Mexican Government.
The union officials also urged the Ministry "to follow its constitutional obligation to protect the rights of workers and abandon its stubbornness in preventing the registration of the union, always to the benefit of employers at the expense of labour rights". They also demanded an end to the harassment of STUHM members at the Honda plant in Mexico.
For years workers of the Honda plant tried to create their own organization facing continued attempts of retaliation and reprisals from the management supported by a protection union Central de Trabajadores de México (CTM). Reportedly this "company union" allows the company to impose low wages on workers earning between 132 - 160 pesos (8 - 10 euros) a day, as well as excessive workload, arbitrary extension of working hours and forced change of days off accompanied with harassment at the workplace.
IMF earlier denounced the outrageous dismissal of the union leader at the Honda plant in El Salto, Jalisco. STUHM together with other independent unions took an active participation in the recent Global Days of Action on Workers' Rights in Mexico.
In February 2009 the IMF submitted a complaint to the International Labour Organization demanding the Mexican Government stop the practice of protection contracts, which allows companies to sign a collective agreement with a union of the company's choice without informing the workers and in essence, blocking any attempts by workers to form independent unions of their own. This is a violation of workers' rights to freedom of association as guaranteed under ILO convention 87, to which Mexico is a signatory.
IMF and its affilaites will continue to monitor closely the situation in the Honda plant in Jalisco and support the workers struggle for a democratic union.