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The Worker Support Centre (CAT) is a Mexican non-governmental democratic and solidarity organization.
MISSION
To contribute to the defence and enforcement of workers' Human Rights and to improve their working and living conditions.
VISION
To be an organization independent of government, political and religious affiliation; but to work with individuals or groups who have interests and principles related to the CAT's.
We promote training workshops in the area of Human Rights, Gender, LFT, Labour Law, Union Rights, etc, in order to provide key education and training for the defence of Human Rights in the Workplace.
Nationally, we seek the participation of workers, students and Mexican society in general, to find alternative solutions to labour problems that affect all Mexicans.
Internationally, we see the fundamental importance of solidarity between unions and NGOs to support the common demands of the workers of all countries, and thus strengthen the overall exercise and defence of Human Rights in the Workplace.
Given how important it is that the NAALC process focus on the larger issues that were raised in Public Communication #2003-01 (Puebla), a summary outlining the fundamental violations described by those who testified in both Washington and Toronto was presented to the Canadian NAO. According to this summary, the five central components of the Complaint, as illustrated by the testimony provided on May 28 in Toronto, are:
In June 2010, Blanca Velasquez, the Director of the Worker Support Centre in Puebla (CAT, for its Spanish acronym) was in Toronto for a conference on "Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico" organized by Canadian unions and international federations. Blanca spoke about the ongoing organizing efforts at auto parts factories in Puebla owned by Johnson Controls. After the meeting, Blanca discussed her experience as a woman leader in the labour rights movement.
A three-day strike by workers at a Johnson Controls auto parts plant in Puebla, Mexico, backed by an international solidarity campaign, has won the workers the right to be represented by a union of their free choice. The agreement sets an important precedent in Mexico where employers often sign "protection contracts" with corrupt unions without the workers' knowledge and/or consent in order to prevent those workers from organizing or affiliating with a democratic union.
On April 28, 2010, Enrique Morales Montaño and Coral Juarez Melo, of the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT) were visiting employees of the multi-national Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) in the community of Santo Toribio, when Enrique was physically assaulted by the son of Magdaleno Texis, a local leader of the CROM, the illegitimate union at the Johnson Controls Puebla factory. Please help support the CAT by sending a letter to Mexican President Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa asking him to guarantee the safety of Coral Juarez and Enrique Morales.
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