Mexican miners’ fight for workers’ rights

Although trade unions at home have undergone repeated attacks from the government in recent years, in Mexico, involvement in a trade union can get jailed – or even killed.

 
The Mexican government’s appalling treatment of workers’ rights is to be highlighted as the leader of the country’s miners’ union visits the UK, coinciding with Mexican president Peña Nieto’s state visit.

 
Under Nieto’s administration, the union, Los Mineros, has seen many of its officials wrongly imprisoned and four union members murdered since 2006.

 
Los Mineros president Napoleon Gomez, who will meet MPs at the House of Commons on March 2, has headed the union in exile in Canada for almost a decade, following repeated death threats.

 
The Mexican government’s relentless prosecution of the union and its leader came to a head when it sent an application to obtain a red notice from Interpol while Gomez was in Canada, which was twice rejected as politically motivated.

 
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey condemned the way in which the Mexican miners’ union has been the victim of vicious government attacks and hoped that Gomez’s visit to the UK could help raise awareness of Mexican unions’ plight.

 
“Napoleon’s case and the rights of Mexican workers are not very well known,” McCluskey said. “We hope his visit will raise the profile of what is happening in Mexico, where the rights of workers are being trampled on.”

 
McCluskey went on to highlight what Los Mineros had accomplished, even in the face of a hostile political climate.

 
“The union has organised thousands of new workers in mining and manufacturing industries, challenging Mexico’s corrupt system of employer-dominated ‘protection unions,’” he said.

 
“Because these actions threatened Mexico’s export-driven, low-wage model, the Mexican government has targeted Los Mineros in a massive campaign of persecution, including refusing to recognise union election results.”

 
Indeed, the success of Los Mineros may reveal just why the government has targeted this union in particular – while average annual wage increases in Mexico amount to four per cent, Los Mineros has won wage increases averaging more than double that, at over eight per cent over the last 10 years.

 
McCluskey pledged support for Los Mineros and their struggles.

 
“Unite stands in solidarity with our Mexican colleagues and calls on the British government to put pressure on president Nieto to clean up his government’s act and start to respect the employment rights of its own citizens,” he said.

 
Mexican president Peña Nieto is scheduled to visit the UK between March 3 and 5, while union leader Napoleon Gomez will visit from March 1 through 8.

Los Mineros has built strong ties of solidarity with unions around the world. In 2005, it formed a strategic alliance with the United Steelworkers, which joined with Unite in 2008 to form Workers Uniting.

 
To find out more about Los Mineros’ struggles , read Napoleon Gomez’s book, The Collapse of Dignity.