A-Infos (en) Mexican Labor News, May 16

["Lucien W." <029WALT@cosmos.wits.ac.za>]

 ________________________________________________
      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
            http://www.ainfos.ca/
 ________________________________________________


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

Date sent:      Mon, 18 May 1998 00:02:46 -0400
From:           Dan La Botz <103144.2651@compuserve.com>
Subject:        Mex Labor News, May 16
To:             ...

MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS
May 16, 1998
Vol. III, No. 10
----------------------------------------------------------------
               About Mexican Labor News and Analysis

     Mexican Labor News and Analysis is produced in collaboration
with the Authentic Labor Front (Frente Autentico del Trabajo -
FAT) of Mexico and with the United Electrical Workers (UE) of the
United States and is published the 2nd and 16th of every month. =


     MLNA can be viewed at the UE's international web site:
HTTP://www.igc.apc.org/unitedelect/. For information about direct
subscriptions, submission of articles, and all queries contact
editor Dan La Botz at the following e-mail address:
103144.2651@compuserve.com or call in the U.S. (513) 961-8722.
The U.S. mailing address is: Dan La Botz, Mexican Labor News and
Analysis, 3436 Morrison Place, Cincinnati, OH 45220.

     MLNA articles may be reprinted by other electronic or print
media, but we ask that you credit Mexican Labor News and Analysis
and give the UE home page location and Dan La Botz's compuserve
address.

     The UE Home Page which displays Mexican Labor News and
Analysis has an INDEX of back issues and an URGENT ACTION ALERT
section.

     Staff: Editor, Dan La Botz; Correspondents in Mexico: Bob
Briggs, Peter Gellert, Jess Kincaid, Wendy Patterson, Jorge
Robles, Juan-Carlos Romero, Fred Rosen, Don Sherman, Linda
Stevenson.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE:
     *Zedillo Cabinet Shuffle: New Secretary of Labor =

          - by Linda Stevenson
     *Mexican Unions File NAFTA Case Against U.S. Gov't
     *U.S. and Mexican Unions Meet, Adopt Joint Resolution
     *Intense Struggle in Mexico City Public Employees' Union
     *Judge Sentences 12 Bus Driver Union Leaders to 9 Years
     *Attorneys Call Labor Authorities "chaotic" and "corrupt"
     *Mexico's "White Unions" Don't March on May Day
     *Social Statistics
     *Resources: Two Useful Articles on Mexican Unions for
          Canadian and U.S. Union Member
-----------------------------------------------------------------
          ZEDILLO SURPRISES MEXICO WITH CABINET SHUFFLE:
          NEW SECRETARIES OF LABOR AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
               =

                    By Linda Stevenson

     President Ernesto Zedillo surprised Mexico by making two
changes in his cabinet on May 14, replacing the Secretary of
Labor and the Secretary of Social Development. The appointments
are important not only for Zedillo's government, but also for
their possible impact on the next presidential election set for
the year 2000. Mexico's out-going president has historically
chosen his successor, often from his cabinet.

                    Secretary of Labor

     Zedillo named Jos=E9 Antonio Gonz=E1lez Fern=E1ndez, until
yesterday the director of the Institute of Social Security for
Unions of State Workers (ISSSTE), to be the new Secretary of
Labor. Gonzalez Fernandez replaces Javier Bonilla, said to be
leaving the position for personal reasons. Bonilla occupied the
post since late August, 1995.

     Forty-six year old Gonz=E1lez Fern=E1ndez has filled two posts
in the current presidential administration, as the attorney
general of the Attorney General's Office of the Federal District
of Mexico (PGJDF), and then as the director of ISSSTE for almost
one year. In March, 1997 he was among the pre-candidates of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the mayoralty of
Mexico City.

     Gonz=E1lez Fern=E1ndez is assuming the responsibilities of the
Secretary of Labor in the midst of a growing debate between union
organizations and business, as reforms to the Federal Labor Law
(LFT) are on the current political agenda of the political
parties and the National Congress.  =


     Socorro Di=E1z will replace Gonz=E1lez Fern=E1ndez in the
directorship of the ISSSTE. Before taking on this position, for
eight months Di=E1z held the second highest post in the hierarchy
of the PRI, as the general secretary. Carlos Rojas, who was
heading up the Secretariat of Social Development, will replace
Di=E1z as the general secretary of the PRI.  =


               Secretary of Social Development

     In addition to the new appointment of the Secretary of
Labor, Esteban Moctezuma Barrag=E1n was appointed Secretary of
Social Development. He resigned from his position as Senator for
the PRI to take the new position in Zedillo's Cabinet.

     Forty-three year old Moctezuma was considered among the top
potential presidential candidates for the PRI for the elections
in 2000 for some time by political analysts, until he resigned
from his post as the Secretary of the Interior (Gobernacion) for
"reasons of the heart" after meeting with high-level Zapatista
leaders in June of 1995. The Secretary of the Interior has
responsibility for internal security and politics, and has often
been the second most powerful person in the government. Some say
Moctezuma lost face because of that resignation.  =


     Since 1995, Moctezuma dedicated himself to his party career,
as a technical secretary of the National Political Counsel of the
PRI, and then won a senatorial position in July 1997.

                    Presidential Candidate?

     But as Moctezuma is one of the closest PRI leaders to the
president, Zedillo's appointment back into his Cabinet may be an
indication that Moctezuma is still in the running for the PRI's
presidential candidacy in 2000. The position of Secretary of
Social Development is the same post that Luis Donaldo Colosio
occupied when he was nominated as the PRI's candidate for
presidency in the 1994 elections, after which he was assassinated
in March, 1994, and Zedillo became the PRI candidate.

     Until this latest cabinet shuffle, speculation has been that
the PRI would choose either Treasury Secretary Jose Angel Gurria
or former Interior Secretary Francisco Labastida as presidential
candidate. But now the elevation of Moctezuma to the cabinet
again seems to place the PRI's candidacy in doubt. While no party
has yet nominated its candidate for the race in 2000, the PRI's
choice is expected to run against Vicente Fox Quesada, governor
of Guanajuato, as candidate of the National Action Party (PAN)
and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, mayor of Mexico City, as candidate of
the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

                              ###

     MEXICAN UNIONS FILE CASE UNDER NAFTA SIDE AGREEMENTS
 IN SUPPORT OF U.S. WORKERS' RIGHTS IN WASHINGTON APPLE INDUSTRY

     The National Union of Workers (UNT), the Authentic Labor
Front (FAT), and the Independent Metal Workers Union (STIMAHCS)
filed a complaint last week under the "side agreements" of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) against the U.S.
government for failing to enforce labor laws which should protect
workers in the apple orchards and packing plants in the state of
Washington.

     Jorge Robles, a spokesperson for the Mexican federations,
asserted that there had been "massive violations" of labor law =

in the state of Washington during the January 1998 union
organizing drives there, and that the U.S. government failed to
protect the workers' rights. The U.S. government, he added, fails
to enforce the minimum standards of wages and health care.

     The Mexican unions complaint alleges that the Washington
Fruit Corporation and the Stemlit Growers Corporation carried out
a campaign to discourage union organization among its mostly
Mexican and Mexican-American workforce, resorting to intimidation
and discrimination. But, say the Mexican unions, the U.S.
government did not protect their rights as required by U.S. labor
law. The complaint was filed with the NAFTA labor administrative
office in Mexico City.

     The Mexicans unions' complaint supports efforts in
Washington state to organize field workers into the United Farm
Workers union (UFW) and packing plant workers into the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). =


     This complaint by the UNT, FAT, and STIMAHCS represents a
new stage in reciprocal support between Canadian, Mexican and
U.S. labor unions. The Teamsters recently joined a similar case,
together with the United Electrical workers (UE) other Canadian
and U.S. unions, in support the ITAPSA-Echlin workers in Mexico,
similarly alleging that the Mexican government had violated
Mexican workers' rights to free association.

     The complaint argues that workers in the fields and packing
sheds and plants receive wages below the U.S. government's own
definition of the poverty level. That is, wages below $13,000 for
a family of three. The complaint also claims that the majority of
workers do not have medical insurance, and that living and
working conditions do not meet established health and safety
standards. The workers, says the complaint, also face problems
from the unsafe use of pesticides and herbicides. The Mexican
unions also assert that Mexican workers mostly from Oaxaca and
Michoacan suffer additional legal and social discrimination, and
are frequently unfairly fired. =


                           ###

                    U.S. AND MEXICAN UNION
                  MEET IN JUAREZ AND EL PASO;
                    ADOPT JOINT RESOLUTION

     Leaders of the United Electrical Workers (UE), a U.S. labor
union, and the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), a Mexican union, held
a joint meeting in Ciudad Juarez earlier this month. The UE and
FAT, as well as the Teamsters, support the Labor Workshop and
Study Center in Ciudad (Centro de Estudios y Taller Laboral, A.C.
or CETLAC), where some sessions were held.

     For some time the UE and the FAT have had a common strategic
organizing initiative, aimed at mutual support for organizing
efforts in both countries.

     In addition, the UE and FAT attended an evening event hosted
by the El Paso Central Labor Union.

     The UE and FAT, as well as a number of El Paso unions signed
the following "Mexico-USA Joint Resolution." =


                    Mexico-USA Joint Resolution

        (Translation from the Spanish language original.)

     WHEREAS the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has
affected workers in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with
transnational corporations cutting jobs in Canada and the United
States, and increasing the U.S. trade deficit, while unemployment
in Mexico has also increased, and thousands of tiny, small and
medium-sized businesses have gone broke because of unlimited
competition from the U.S. multinational corporations, leaving
millions of workers without a job; and

     WHEREAS NAFTA and multilateral institutions like the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund have financed and
encourage the establishment of these large corporate firms which
have driven family farmers in the United States into bankruptcy
and also forced thousand of farmers in Mexico to leave their
land; and

     WHEREAS thousands of Mexican workers have gone to the border
to look for a job in the maquiladoras, but have found that the
job is poorly paid, and that they cannot support their families,
and that the corporations are allowed to operate in violation of
the labor and environmental laws and standards; and

     WHEREAS facing this hard economic reality, many of these
workers migrate to the United States, where they find
discrimination and poor working conditions; and

     WHEREAS trade agreements are being used to undermine the
highest labor and environmental laws, lowering the standards in
the three NAFTA countries; and

     WHEREAS, many corporations in the United States are
threatening to move their plants or production in order to
discourage their workers from organizing unions and from seeking
better wages, benefits and working conditions; and

     WHEREAS, the transnational corporations have taken advantage
of the "discretional" application of the laws and environmental
rules, contaminating the air, the land and the water on the
border between Mexico and the U.S.A.; and

     WHEREAS, the trade agreements such as NAFTA and ALC
(Agreement on Labor Cooperation) are negotiated in secret without
consulting the people that will be affected, and are approved by
Congress rapidly under the "Fast Track" rules, which prevent our
legislators from making changes or proposing amendments; and

     WHEREAS, these agreements prohibit the state and local
governments from using their authority to make laws to require
improvements of environmental standards and workplace health and
safety, because such laws are considered to be "trade barriers";
and

     WHEREAS, citizens, labor and environmental groups got
together in Santiago de Chile at the Summit of the Peoples of
America, demanding a new foundation for international trade
agreements in order to promote fair trade, sustainable economic
development and economic justice for all sectors of society:

                    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED

     1) To demand the renegotiation of NAFTA, specifically the
chapters on investment, national treatment, rules of origin,
farming, and the inclusion of clauses to consider the asymmetries
between the signing nations of NAFTA, the situation of the
migrant workers in order to regulate the transit of people across
the border, and attention to human rights.

     2) To demand compliance with labor and environmental laws
and standards of each country, and the amendment of the ALC, to
be used effectively as a mechanism in defense of the workers from
the region.

     3) To demand the compliance with the rights of free
unionization and collective bargaining, and the right to strike
in the United States and Mexico, specifically in the maquiladora
border zone where these rights are violated systematically and
permanently.

     4) To demand the commitment of the governments of the region
to raise the labor and environmental standards, to improve real
wages, and to create and improve jobs, as well as preserving the
environment.

     5) We are committed to extend and to consolidate the union
and solidarity relations between our labor organizations of
Mexico and the United States, to work jointly and to make
possible that the demands presented here be fulfilled.

     Signed by national officers of the UE, FAT, STIMAHCS, and by
local officials of the IBEW, UNITE, and other organizations in
the El Paso area.

                           ###

               INTENSE STRUGGLE IN MEXICO CITY =

                    PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' UNION
     =

     An intense struggle continues in the Mexico City for control
of the 110,000-member city public employees union (SUTGDF). So
far this internecine battle has led to the resignation of one of
Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas's close associates, to a disruption of
the SUTGDF's general assembly which was to have elected a new
leader of the union, and to the imposition of a receivership over
the city workers' union.

                         Program

     The contest is hard to follow without a program, so here it
is.
     =

     The battle for control of the SUTGDF is taking place
principally between two factions both of which are allied with
the Institutional Revolutionary Party. However there is also a
weaker third faction allied with the Party of the Democratic
Revolution.

     The first faction is supporting Carlos Gonzalez Merino.
Gonzalez Merino is the hand-picked candidate of out-going leader
Raul Quintana. Quintana is accused of defrauding some 57,000
workers of 400 million pesos, and his critics accuse Quintana of
wanting a successor who will cover up his embezzlement.

     The second faction is supporting Armando Ibarra, the
candidate of a group called "Reforma 39" which is run by its
"moral guide," Jose de Jesus Lozano Contreras, a former leader of
the Federation of Unions of Workers at the Service of the State
(FSTSE). Other factions have referred to Lozano Contreras as a
"gangster."

     The third faction, not allied with the PRI, is that led by
Carmelo Garcia Pedraza who had the sympathy of Mayor Cardenas of
the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

                         Score Card

     So that's the program, now here's the score card.

     Despite the fact that the PRI factions were calling various
politically motivated protests and strikes against Cuauhtemoc
Cardenas, his assistant Jesus Gonzalez Schmal, the city's
"official mayor," continued to support Gonzalez Merino. This led
Cardenas to demand and get Gonzalez Schmal's resignation.
Meanwhile Cardenas's candidate Garcia Pedraza had lost support,
and has dropped from the picture. Score one for the PRI, score an
error for the PRD.

     The SUTGDF was then supposed to have a general membership
meeting on April 29 to elect a new general secretary, the top
officer of the union. Raul Quintana and Carlos Gonzalez Merino
decided to pull a fast one and hold the meeting early in the
morning, electing their candidate before the opposition arrived
for the meeting. Don't mark this score yet.

     But Jose de Jesus Lozano Contreras is a past master of such
strategies, and he and his candidate Armando Ibarra succeeded in
finding out the location and time of the union meeting, and
occupied the hall before Quintana's and Gonzalez Merino's people
got there. Score one for Lozano and Ibarra.

     So the SUTGDF general assembly never took place, apparently
because all the members actually got there at about the same
time. =


     The breakdown in functioning of the SUTGDF led the federal
public employees union, the FSTSE to put the SUTGDF in a kind of
receivership. The FSTSE leader Jose Ayala Almeida then appointed
Raul Quintana, leader of the first faction, to arrange within
three months another general assembly to elect a new SUTGDF
general secretary. Score one for Quintana.

     There are 39 sections in all, but in this politically
charged atmosphere, it is not simply a question of majority
rules. A deal has to be made. Ayala Almeida would like to make an
arrangement for a unity candidate, but it has been difficult
because Gonzalez Merino has the support of about 24 or 25
sections, while Armando Ibarra has the support of 14 or 15. =


     It now appears that Quintana has been negotiating with
Lozano Contreras in order to get both of the candidates to step
down in favor of the union's treasury secretary Fernando Rojo.
Now scores yet.

                    Political Disappointment

     But while we have been talking about programs and score
cards, this isn't a game. This is real, and the future of
democratic reform in Mexico City depends on the contest. =


     The disappointing thing in all of this, of course, is that
two conservative factions, both loyal to the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, continue to dominate the political life of
such an important labor union. Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and the Party
of the Democratic Revolution appear to have succeeded neither in
putting their own faction into power in the union nor in
promoting more democratic functioning within the city unions. =


     The task of course is enormous. The Augean stables metaphor
comes to mind. At the same time, however, Cardenas has not put
union democracy or workers' issues the center of his mayoral
administration. =


     One of his supporters says that looking forward to 2000,
Cardenas simply can't take on a task as difficult and complicated
as cleaning up the city's unions. But one wonders, what would his
priorities be at a national level, if he becomes president. Would
labor get more attention then? =

  =

                         ###

          JUDGE SENTENCES 12 BUS DRIVER UNION LEADERS
           TO 9 YEARS IN PRISON; APPEAL WILL BE MADE

     Last week a Mexican judge sentenced Ricardo Barco Lopez and
11 other leaders of the Route 100 Bus Drivers Union (SUTAUR) to
nine years in prison for the crime of defrauding 350 retirees and
pensioneers of more than 24 million pesos. Barco Lopez and the
other SUTAUR leaders led a two year fight against the
privatization of the Route 100 Bus Line in Mexico City and the
destruction of their independent union, SUTAUR.

     Barco said that the judge's decision represents a
continuation of attempts to destroy both the bus line and the
independent union, and that he and his fellow union leaders will
appeal the verdict to a higher court.

     The judge, Enrique Gallegos Garcilazo, also called upon
Barco and the others to pay 13 million pesos in damages, as well
as a fine of 2,748 pesos. =


     The 12 leaders of SUATUR were arrested by Mexico City police
on April 10, 1995 and spent 15 months in prison, as a result of a
decision by the same judge charging them with fraud. Only in July
1996 after paying a bond of 11 million pesos each, and fines of
2,399 pesos, did the 12 obtain their freedom. However the charge
remained on the books. =

     =

     The 12 union leaders were absolved in a similar case where
they were charged with having defrauded 250 other SUATUR workers.

                              ###

               DEBATE OVER MEXICO'S LABOR AUTHORITIES:
          DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS INDICT SYSTEM AS A FAILURE

     Last week the National Association of Democratic Attorneys
(ANAD) accused the Federal Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration
of being "chaotic and inoperable" and accused the Secretary of
Labor's office of "corrupt and clandestine practices" in the
registration of labor unions.

     The occasion was a public debate in Mexico City between
lawyers from the National Association of Democratic Attorneys
(ANAD), the then under-secretary of Labor and Social Welfare,
Javier Moctezuma Barragan, and Alfred Farid Barquet Rodriguez,
head of the Federal Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration
(JFCA).

     Independent unions, labor activists, and their attorneys
have long accused the labor board and the Secretary of Labor of
practices which encourage "ghost unions" (sindicatos fantasmas)
and "protection contacts" (contratos de proteccion), including a
black market in union registrations (registros) and collective
bargaining rights (titularidad).

     In the course of the debate, Barquet Rodriguez agreed that
the labor boards cases were backed up, but attributed the problem
to an inadequate budget and a lack of personnel, rather than to
any intrinsic problem in the system. While the case load had
increased by 300 percent, said Barquet Rodriguez, the number of
employees has remained at 1,600. =


     According to Barquet Rodriguez there are at present 50,000
cases before the labor board, though some 20,000 of them are
backlogged.

     Moctezuma Barragan denied the ANAD's accusations of
corruption and secret deals in the Department of Labor, saying
that his agency had acted with complete "transparency in the
handing down of union registrations." "There are no secret
cellars," he said, "there are no clandestine practices."
     =

                              ###

                    MEXICO'S "WHITE" UNIONS
                    DON'T MARCH ON MAY DAY

     On May Day, the international workers' holiday, most Mexican
labor unions and workers' organizations marched. =


     But one group doesn't march on May Day. Hardly ever marches.
Hardly ever strikes. Hardly ever complains.

     The National Federation of Independent Union (FNSI) based in
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, has for decades had a close relationship
to the employers. =


     The "Independent" in the FNSI's name can be confusing, since
the word "independent" is usually used in Mexico to describe
unions which have independence from both the Mexican state-party
and from the employers. But not in this case. These are Mexico's
other unions, the company unions, called "sindicatos blancos" in
Spanish or "white unions." =


     Historically white unions were distinguished from the
Communist and anarchist "red" unions. The other use of the word
"blanco" or "white" in the labor lexicon is the term "guardias
blancas" or white guards for strike-breakers.

     The FNSI represents 280,000 workers in the states of Nuevo
Leon, Coahuila and Chihuahua. =


     "We celebrate May Day by working for our union members,"
says FNSI's general coordinator, Juan Manuel Zapata Garza,
explaining why the unions he leads don't march. "All unions
should protect the worker, fight for his rights, push him
forward, and prepare him for his job," said Zapata Garza. =


     Last year the FNSI negotiated 4,800 contracts, but filed
strike notification in only 14 cases, and struck in only three
cases. This year, with about half of its contracts renegotiated,
the FNSI has not even filed one strike notification, and has not
had to strike one employer.  =


     "What we do is dialogue and try to convince the employer of
the need for a raise, so that we all win. We only turn to the
labor authorities when we fail to convince the boss of the
necessity of a raise," said Zapata.

     FNSI members have won raises of between 16 and 20 percent,
or just about the same as the members of the pro-government and
the genuinely independent unions. All unions wage demands tend to
be contained by the government-employer-union pacts.

                              ###
SOCIAL STATISTICS

Under-Employment and Unemployment

     According to Secretary of Labor, Javier Bonilla Garcia, in
an announcement made just before he stepped down, about 40
percent of Mexico's economically active population or 15 million
people suffers from under-employment. (Fabiola Martinez,
"Subempleados, unos 15 millones de mexicanos," LA JORNADA 9 May
1998.)

Wages

     Yearly contractual wage increases renegotiated in April
averaged 17 percent, with the highest wage gain being the 35
percent won by Corona de Soconusco and the lowest being the 8.5
percent wage gain at Cementos Tolteca. While textile workers'
wage rose 20.0 percent, construction workers' wages rose only
14.0. But most workers won just about the 17.0 percent gained by
the Samsung workers. ("Aumentaron 17.6% los salarios contratuales
en abril," EL UNIVERSAL 12 May 98.)

Wages in Latin America at 20-year Low

     Workers' wages in Mexico and Latin America at the end of the
1990s still remain below those of the 1970s and 1980s, according
to Jean Maninat, director of the International Labor Organization
in Mexico. At the same time about 40 percent of all jobs in Latin
America are to be found in the informal sector, he said.
(Elizabeth Velasco and Antonio Vazquez, "El salario, por debajo
del de hace 20 anos," LA JORNADA 8 May 1998.)

Profit Sharing

     The Mexican Constitution of 1917, Article 123 (the labor
article) and the Federal Labor Law (LFT) both provide that
employers shall pay profit sharing to employees. But according to
the Congress of Labor (CT), 80 percent of the country's
corporations claim tax losses in order to avoid paying profit
sharing. Enrique de la Garza, labor specialist at the Autonomous
Metropolitan University (UAM), reports that only 10 percent of
the 10 million workers who are employed by the 300 corporations
which control 80 percent of Mexican exports (auto, auto part,
electronics, etc.) will receive profit sharing. (Elizabeth
Velasco, "Evaden pagar el reparto de las utilidades 80% de los
patrones," LA JORNADA, 12 May 1998.)

Price Increases - Inflation

     The price of the market basket of goods purchased by a
family of five, rose 10.18 percent in the first quarter of the
year, according to the Congress of Labor. (Elizabeth Velasco, "Se
incremento 10.8% la canasta basica en cuatro meses," LA JORNADA
12 May 1998.)

Levels of Unionization

     A study by the International Labor Organization found that
while in the 1980s about 70 percent of all Mexican workers
belonged to labor unions, today the figure varies between 20 and
30 percent--though the major labor federations do not wish to
acknowledge this fact for political reasons. (Arturo Gomez
Salgado, "Disminuye la tasa de sindicalizacion de las grandes
centrales," EL FINANCIERO 11 May 1998.)

Social Struggles

     Between January 1 and April 15, Mexico registered only 14
legal strikes in the federal jurisdiction, a lower number than
last year when 16 strikes were recorded in the same time period.
("Estallan 14 huelgas en lo que va del ano, dice JFCA," EL
FINANCIERO 6 May 1998.) Mexican strike statistics can be somewhat
deceptive, since strikes (huelgas) would not include, for
example, the important work stoppages (paros) on the railroads
which took place in February and March.

                              ###
RESOURCES
               TWO USEFUL ARTICLES ON MEXICAN UNIONS
               FOR CANADIAN AND U.S. UNION ACTIVISTS

     Canadian and U.S. union, solidarity or human rights
activists who are trying to keep up with developments in Mexico,
or who want something to give to fellow activists, will find the
following articles particularly useful:

     David Brooks and Jim Cason, "Mexican Unions: Will Turmoil
Lead to Independence," in: WorkingUSA, March/April 1998.

     Douglas W. Payne, "Mexican Labor: Cracks in the Monolith,"
in DISSENT, Winter, 1998.

END MEXICAN LABOR NEWS AND ANALYSIS - VOL. 3 NO. 10 - 16 MAY 1998

	***A-INFOS DISCLAIMER - IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE***

A-Infos disclaims responsibility for the information in this message.


			********
		The A-Infos News Service
			********
		COMMANDS: majordomo@tao.ca
		REPLIES: a-infos-d@tao.ca
		HELP: a-infos-org@tao.ca
		WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/
		INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org