Labor Delegation Delivers Letter Rebuking Mexican President Calderón's Firing of 44 000 Unionized Workers

BOSTON - On Tuesday a delegation labor unionists and community activists delivered a letter to the Mexican Deputy Consul General rebuking Mexican President Felipe Calderón for his government's seizure of Central Light and Power plants decertification of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union and firing of between 44 000 and 45 000 union workers. The letter — signed by IBEW Local 103 Director of Organization William Corley UE Northeast Region President Peter Knowlton AFSC Project Voice Regional Director Gabriel Camacho and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Executive Director Russ Davis — urged President Calderón to revoke the decree liquidating Central Light and Power reinstate the fired workers and respect their collective agreement and to recognize the SME's elected union leadership. Camacho who also participated in Tuesday's delegation told Open Media Boston that President Calderón's PAN party has "embraced the Washington consensus or neoliberal economic policies that seek to further privatize what's left of the public sector in Mexico and further privatize utilities embrace what's so-called 'labor flexibility ' in which labor laws in Mexico are watered down. […] You get as a result 44 000 people being fired all at once." Although the Deputy Consul General was receptive to the message of the letter Camacho said "The matter is not gonna be very pretty when you talk about the Mexican workers who are out of work during an economic crisis in a country whose unemployment rate perhaps is at 25%." Camacho believes the letter indicates to the Mexican government that "labor organizations community organizations and faith organizations have an eye on the situation in Mexico express their unmitigated solidarity with the workers of the SME. And this is just our first attempt to do something about this crisis." According to Edwin Argueta an organizer for Jobs with Justice the Deputy Consul General agreed to coordinate a meeting between the labor and community activist delegates and the Consul General for sometime in January. This article is a news brief. Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati