SOLIDARITY STRIKES BEGIN IN MEXICO
Workers at 136 branches of Mexico’s Miners and Metalworkers Union stopped work for one hour, in solidarity with workers at the mining company Asarco in the United States and the Mexican steel company, Sicartsa. This began a series of strikes that will culminate in a one day strike, if progress is not made in negotiations between the two sides.
MEXICO/USA: Mexican miners and metalworkers, employed by Grupo Mexico, began a series of strikes on August 15 , in support of strikes at Asarco, in the United States, and the Lázaro Cárdenas Las Truchas steel plant (Sicartsa).
In the Asarco dispute, management had set a date for negotiations on August 12. However, negotiations between the company and workers did not result in an agreement.
Meanwhile, Sicartsa workers went on strike two weeks ago, claiming the company had violated their employment contract. The protest has continued even though labour authorities last week considered it to be illegal.
In this context, workers at 136 branches of Mexico’s Miners and Metalworkers Union, representing most of the union’s members, stopped work for one hour during the morning shift, in solidarity with workers on strike at Asarco and Sicartsa.
The strikes will be extended by one hour per day until they culminate in a one day strike, if there is no progress in negotiations between the two sides, said the mining union.
It is expected that the strikes will affect important mines in Mexico, such as those at Cananea and La Caridad, owned by the mining giant, Grupo Mexico, in the state of Sonora, in the north of the country. The Sonora mines mainly supply the Mexican and United States markets.
The union at Grupo Mexico’s Cananea mine said that 450 of the mine’s 1,200 workers participated in the strike. A further 600 workers stopped work at the industrial unit, Minera Mexico, which has mines in the centre and north of Mexico.
Workers were also expected to stop work at the world’s biggest silver mine, owned by the mining company, Peñoles, in the central town of Fresnillo, Zacatecas.
Asarco, a Grupo Mexico subsidiary, operates six mines and four foundry and refining complexes in the United States. Last week, Asarco filed for bankruptcy protection, citing high production and environmental costs and the effects of the strike that began at the beginning of July. [August 17, 2005]
