Mexico's independent and radical trade unions have agreed to form a new federation, to be called the National Union of Workers (UNT).
Over 300 delegates from 132 unions representing over one million workers met in Mexico City on August 22-23, and agreed to establish the new federation before the end of 1997.
The new federation grows out of the Foro, (Forum: Unions Face the Nation) a group of 26 unions which for the last two years have tried to develop an alternative to the government's economic policy and promoting a more independent and democratic labour union movement. The Foro involved both unions from the government-ruling-party dominated Congress of Labour (CT) and independent unions such as the Authentic Labour Front (FAT).
This movement for change in the unions was strengthened by the death of Fidel Velazquez Sanchez, general secretary of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), and the July 6 election defeat for the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The strong showing by the left-of-centre Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and especially the election of the PRD's Cuauhtemoc Cardenas as mayor of Mexico City, also strengthened the forces for change in the unions. A Split in the Foro Unions
Nevertheless, some Foro unions opposed the plan to form a new federation. Nine unions, representing about 2/3 of the Foro group's mass base, withdrew from the planned assembly. They included the SNTE teachers union (1.2 million members), the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME, 46,000 members, mainly in Mexico City), and the Revolutionary Workers Confederation (COR).
The remaining 17 Foro unions, joined by the left-wing May First Inter-Union Group, went ahead and held the Assembly, bringing together 132 unions representing about one million workers. Resolutions and discussion
The first meeting of the new National Union of Workers (UNT) will take place on November 28. Delegates also agreed that the new federation would break off all relations with the existing umbrella organisation, the Congress of Labour (CT), and refuse to participate in CT-led economic pacts with the employers and the government. These new positions would represent a substantial break with traditional Mexican union politics.
Out-going Foro president Agustin Fuentes Rodriguez won a big round of lItICS applause when he stated that the new federation will not abide by labour laws which require the state to approve of union officers. "The make up of the new federation should be the free and sovereign decision of the workers, " he said. The preamble to the statutes of the new federation proposed at the assembly calls atter the exhaustion of other methods, for the use of strikes, boycotts and general strikes. Radical demands
The May First Inter-Union Group made its affiliation to the new federation contingent upon complete separation from the Congress of Labour (CT). The May First group also called for the inclusion not only of labour unions, but also of peasant organisations and working class community organisations. The inclusion of non- union groups has been a bone of contention between the Foro and the May First group in recent months.
The May First group also called for undoing recent social security reforms, and for "a working class economic program as an alternative to capitalism and neo-liberalism." Delegates from May First group unions called on the new federation to oppose privatisation of state firms, to stand for the renationalisation of already privatised firms, and to call for a suspension of the payment of the foreign debt. The birth of a new labour movement?
This decision is one of the most important developments in the Mexican labour movement in decades. It could signal the beginning of the end of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) control over the labour unions. If it can demonstrate genuine independence, organisational breadth, mass support, and political appeal, the National Union of Workers may one day become a rival to the state-dominated Congress of Labour (CT) and its most important member, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). [DLB/SS] Wages and Prices
Since the devaluation of the peso in December 1994, prices have risen 76.71 percent, while wages have fallen by 35.5% in real terms. Salaries of manufacturing workers fell by 44.8% in US dollar terms, while their productivity increased 20.4 percent. Mexican Labor News and Analysis, 16 September. Contact: 3436 Morrison Place, Cincinnati, OH 45220, USA <[email protected]>, tel. (+1 513) 961 8722
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Massive welcome for Zapatistas in Mexico City
After a week-long, 750-mile trip from Chiapas, 1,111 Zapatistas rebels arrived in Mexico City on September 13. A massive crowd of supporters chanted "You are not alone"
The representatives of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) came to the capitol to demand that the government comply with the San AndresLarrainzar accords, which were signed in 1995. The accords provide the first small steps toward political autonomy for Mexico's Indian peoples.
This march also marked the formal founding of a broad-based, nation-wide civilian organisation in support of the Zapatista army, called the Zapatista Front for National Liberation (FZLN). The FZLN, which defines itself as a political force that is not an electoral party, claims more than 10,000 members in hundreds of local chapters throughout Mexico.
EZLN leaders had chosen the arrival in Mexico to coincide with Mexico's national independence day, September 16. While a Mayan Indian movement, the EZLN has Brazil: United to de
An electronic balloting system provided by the government of Rio de Janeiro was in use from the first moments of the 11th National Meeting of the Workers Party on September 1st. Jose Dirceu was reelected president of the party by a narrow margin. Milton Temer, the candidate of the left-wing of the PT, won 46.5% of delegate votes.