6 May, 2010A Tribunal resolution repudiates government violations of human and trade union rights and calls for compliance with ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the Freedom of Association and the Right to Organise.
MEXICO: The International Tribunal on Freedom of Association, created last year to examine accusations against Mexico for violation of the freedom of association, met on April 28-30 2010 to consider information and statements submitted by trade unions and to rule on the case brought against the Mexican government.
The ruling will be made available to the Mexican government, the ILO, the OAS, the United Nations, the European Union and other countries with whom Mexico has signed treaties that include sections on human and employment rights.
The IMF, which could not be present at the meeting, sent a statement of support for the struggle to protect trade union rights and the freedom of association. It denounced the use of 'protection contracts' and condemned the abuses and intimidation suffered by those who defend rights and seek genuine social justice in Mexico.
The Tribunal condemned Mexican government policies restricting the freedom of association, annulling collective bargaining, denying the right to strike and generally interfering with the fundamental human right to decent work. It also condemned the web of corruption involving government officials, companies and bogus trade unions that deny fundamental employment rights by a combination of corporativism, a pretence of legality and the use of violence. The Tribunal also repudiated the practice whereby companies and bogus trade unions sign contracts that prevent or try to prevent the development of independent and democratic trade unions that can defend workers' rights.
The Tribunal warned that the government's consent to such practices constitutes an additional violation of human rights: "We demand an end to impunity and the punishment of those responsible".
Labour lawyer Carlos del Buen comments on the situation in his electronic daily "El Seminario", He discusses the use of 'protection contracts', referring to them as bogus collective agreements, examines the role of false trade union leaders and corruption and highlights the complaint against the Mexican government presented by the IMF to the ILO.
The Tribunal recommends that the Mexican government should comply with:
- the duties set out in the Constitution of the Republic and Mexican legislation and International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98;
- the recommendations made in 2006 by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and by the United Nations Human Rights Council at the time of its Universal Periodic Review of Mexico in 2009.
The Tribunal call on the Mexican government to stop criminalising social protest and conflict and stop using police forces against the workers' movement. The resolution specifically calls on the government not to use the security forces or the army against the historic miners' strike of Cananea and calls on it to suspend its attacks on the union. It also calls on the Mexican people and the international community to support the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union (SME) in its fight to defend the right to work and the employment rights of its members.
To read the full proceedings and recommendations of the Tribunal go to: http://tribunaldelibertadsindical.blogspot.com/