23 April, 2008IMF White Paper and documentary exposing deadly rights violations and corruption on the part of the Mexican Government and mining giant, Grupo México, has metalworkers mobilized.
GLOBAL: Metalworker trade unions from around the world are calling on the Mexican Government and mining company Grupo México to end their repression of independent trade unions in Mexico.
The country's largest mining company, Grupo México, and the Mexican government, first under President Fox and now under President Calderón, have systematically and repeatedly violated Mexican law and international standards in an attempt to crush the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM).
Attacks on the union have included withdrawing legal recognition of the union's democratically elected General Secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia and other elected leaders based on forged evidence and issuing baseless arrest warrants against Gómez. The government and Grupo México have attempted to divide the union by granting overnight recognition to a pro-company union and holding elections in which workers were forced to join its ranks. Meanwhile, Grupo México seemingly is able to murder, torture, intimidate and abuse workers with complete indemnity.
SNTMMSRM is an affiliate of the International Metalworkers' Federation and Gómez sits on its Executive Committee.
The IMF, representing 25 million metalworkers in 100 countries around the world, is calling on the Mexican government to:
- Release all union funds illegally seized by the government;
- Lift all charges still pending against Napoleón Gómez Urrutia and other members of the SNTMMSRM;
- Prosecute in a court of law, immediately and transparently, all those responsible in the corruption of documents and facts, and
- Investigate Grupo México's involvement in the murder of Reynaldo Hernández González and the detention and torture of 20 SNTMMSRM members in Nacozari, Sonora.
These rights abuses are documented in "An Injury to One: The Mexican Miners' struggle for union independence", a White Paper and an 18 minute video on the situation in Mexico, both published by the IMF. On April 23, IMF affiliates from Europe, Latin America, and Mexico's NAFTA partners, Canada and the US, delivered the White Paper and documentary to government officials in their respective countries, urging them to raise this issue with their Mexican counterparts.
For more information about the IMF's campaign for union independence, go to: www.imfmetal.org/Mexico.
Click here to download the White Paper or view the documentary.