Gangster Union "Wins" In Rio Bravo

  • A bulletin from the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras describing the March 2 election.
  • An Urgent Action on behalf of all Mexican workers.
  • Excerpt from the NAALC agreement signed by the Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare pledging secret balloting in union representation elections.

Terror Continues

Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
March 6, 2001

On Friday, March 2nd in a government-run union election, the workers at Duro Bag Company in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico were robbed of their legal, constitutional and human right to be represented by a union of their own choosing. The election was blatantly undemocratic. The final vote of 498 to 4 replaced the current company-dominated union, the Paper, Cardboard, and Wood Industry Union with a similarly company-dominated union, the Regional Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC), a union that had provided about a hundred thugs to terrorize Duro workers in the weeks before the election. The workers had attempted to win representation for their local independent Union of Duro Bag Workers. Over 150 of them were fired for organizing over the ten months of their struggle. The Mexican government had refused to order a secret ballot election on neutral grounds despite an agreement with the U.S. government last summer to do so in union elections.

Thirty-nine election observers from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada including clergy, human rights and union representatives stood outside the plant gate all day. They were refused admittance to observe the proceedings. Media from local and international press also asked for admittance into the plant but were kept outside with the observers.

Significance of the Duro workers' struggle

The attempt of the Duro Bag workers to win a real union was supported through an international campaign by The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM) to pressure the Mexican government, Duro Bag and Duro's largest customer Hallmark. CJM is a San Antonio, Texas-based coalition of North American labor, religious and human rights organizations. CJM Executive Director, Martha Ojeda, herself a former maquiladora worker, said, "With this shockingly undemocratic election, the new Fox administration has made it crystal clear that it has no intention of reforming Mexico's corrupt system of government and company-dominated unions. Despite Fox's promise to 'put a human face on the global economy,' we now know he will oppose any attempts by maquiladora workers to improve their sub-poverty wages and deadly working conditions. In fact, this represents a step backward from promises made to NAFTA partners by the previous government to move toward secret ballot union elections. ÊMoreover, this election demonstrates the repression and fraud that multinational corporations are willing to use, that the CROC is now replacing the declining CTM, and that in future attempts to organize their own unions the workers are going to be fighting with gangsters."

One of the international observers, Judy Ancel, an educator from Kansas City and member of the CJM Board of Directors said, "A number of the foreigners wanted to know what the Spanish word for "Shame" was. I think we were all appalled at the total lack of pretense of even minimal fairness in this election." She added, "As the Bush, Fox, and Chretien administrations of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada prepare to push for NAFTA expansion to the entire Western Hemisphere, I think the Duro case will haunt the debate. It is a clear example of NAFTA's utter failure to improve the lives of workers."

For more information contact the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras at 210-732-8957 or cjm@igc.org

Protest this Outrage!

Please write letters protesting this blatant violation of worker and human rights to Mexican President Vicente Fox and to Tamaulipas State Governor Tomas Yarrington. Also call, write or fax Duro Bag and their customer Hallmark. Inform your Congressional representatives of these violations and point out the failure of any progress toward labor rights under NAFTA.

Sample letter

    Dear President Fox:

    The recuento (union election) which took place at the Duro Bag Company in Rio Bravo Tamaulipas on March 2 was a blatant violation of all standards of free elections. The presence of armed thugs, the holding of second shift workers prisoner in the plant, and the intimidation of workers by the company and the CROC union are an outrage. I am very disappointed that after the promises you made to respect worker rights your government would conduct such an election.

    You spoke last week in Cancun about putting a human face on globalization. Are we to conclude that this new face is one filled with terror? We demand an end to stolen elections, impunity and corruption in the handling of labor rights issues in Mexico.

    Sincerely,

Send letters to:

For more information contact the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras at 210-732-8957 or cjm@igc.org

Agreement on Ministerial Consultations

U.S. NAO Submissions 9702 and 9703

"The Mexican Department of Labor and Social Welfare will continue promoting the registry of collective bargaining contracts in conformity with established labor legislation. At the same time, efforts will be made to promote that workers be provided information pertaining to collective bargaining agreements existing in their place of employment and to promote the use of eligible voter lists and secret ballot elections in disputes over the right to hold the collective bargaining contract."

May 18, 2000

Mariano Palacios Alcocer
Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare
Mexico