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19 May, 2010
Carmen is 49 and was born and lives in Teolocholco, Tlaxcala. She has eight children, five girls and three boys, all teenagers, who either work or study. She has been married 28 years and has a secondary school education. She worked at Johnson Controls in Puebla for 11 years. She was dismissed because she joined an organizing coalition (COT-JC), refused to accept the demands being made on her on the production line, where managers want workers to work three times harder without proper remuneration, and criticized the existing union. When she was dismissed, she could not go to the union for help because the union is a paper union that is backed by the labour authorities. Companies use these unions to ensure cheap labour and no "labour problems". Carmen now survives on what she earns from a few casual jobs and continues to attend training courses on issues such as women's rights and labour rights. She also works at a small family shop and lives with some support provided by her husband.
Jorge is 33. He also lives in Teolocholco, Tlaxcala. He is married with three boys, all teenagers who are at present studying. Jorge has a secondary school education. He was dismissed by Johnson Controls one and a half years ago for calling on the trade union that claims to represent him to protect the workers from company harassment and arbitrary decisions made by management.
Carmen and Jorge explained that employees sign individual contracts. They are told there is a collective agreement but they are never able to find out anything about it, let alone being able to have an input into negotiations about the terms of the agreement. This union has no articles of association, at least none that its members are aware of, and it never holds general meetings for the workers, although it has held occasional meetings on certain production lines or in certain departments.
The union has a health and safety committee, but this committee never meets. The workers have average pay increases of two per cent per year and, according to Jorge, were given 1,000 pesos (US$82.36) as "profit sharing". Carmen says: "How is it possible when Chicles Adams pays its workers 40,000-60,000 pesos (US$3,290 - US$4,950) for "profit sharing"?" Workers are entitled to six days annual holiday but many never take them because they prefer to work on those days in order to increase their incomes, however little the pay is. They also work on the bank holidays and obligatory rest days (such as national holidays) stipulated by labour laws, for the same reason - to obtain a few more measly pesos. Employees are covered by social security but the dismissed workers are not. The company pays an end of year bonus equivalent to more or less 20 days pay.
There are never any elections to elect union leaders. These leaders just present themselves and tell the workers they are in charge. The union at Johnson Controls is affiliated to the Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM). Johnson Controls workers do not know how trade unions are supposed to conduct themselves but they know they want to organize themselves in order to protect themselves from the whims of their employer. That is why they want to join a union of their own choice, the Mexican Miners' and Metalworkers' union (SNTMMSRM). However the company has begun to take steps to intimidate workers to stop them from joining the SNTMMSRM.
According to the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador A.C. (CAT), a labour support centre, workers at the company have been fighting for more than two years and learning about human and labour rights, in order to be able to exercise their right to freedom of association. The workers have formed an organizing coalition at the company (COT-JC). In 2007, some workers participated in the Comisión Revisora del Reparto de Utilidades (Profit Sharing Review Committee) and also demanded a new collective agreement but were dismissed without valid reason in June 2007. The company and the "paper" union in place have continued to harass workers since then and more workers have been dismissed.
CAT has revealed that the company is currently doing well. Production has increased and hours of work have increased to almost two full shifts. Some departments have begun to work on Sundays. The plant is working at 90 per cent of capacity, partly to ensure supply of parts for the new Volkswagen A6 model. The first hundred seats, made from leather, vinyl and cloth, came off the production line on April 16. The production managers, Jorge Sambrano and Ignacio Betz called a meeting with workers to thank them for their efforts and to encourage them to work harder in order to achieve the target of 1,200 units per day by the beginning of January 2011. Current production is 800 seats per day for VW and 200 seats per day for Nissan.
Sergio Beltrán, secretary of the SNTMMSRM, said he was taking the steps necessary for workers at Johnson Controls to join the SNTMMSRM and hoped to be able to talk to company management. He said it was important for the international union federations, including the IMF, to act as mediators and arrange a meeting with the company.