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In response to a violent August 16 attack by thugs from a protection union, workers at the Johnson Controls Interiores plant in Puebla, Mexico walked off the job and remained on strike for several days. On August 19, the dispute was resolved when management signed an agreement recognizing the workers' independent union and severing its ties with the Confederación de Organizaciones Sindicales (COS), a company union that was ejected from the factory in May after a previous strike.
MSN is pleased to announce that an agreement was reached on August 19, 2010 between factory management and the independent union. MSN would like to thank those who responded to the action alert.
On August 16, 2010, thugs entered a plant owned by Johnson Controls in Puebla, Mexico, and assaulted them, according to reports, "with sticks and stones, leaving many injured." Two of the members of the Executive Committee of the newly formed union at the plant, Cándido Barreucos and Vigilio Melendez, were beaten in a company office and forced to sign letters of resignation, reportedly at gunpoint. They are currently in a hospital with severe injuries. Our allies the US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) have set up automatic email pages you can use to take two actions: contact Johnson Controls and contact the Mexican government.
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 27, Mexican human rights activist and indigenous leader Alberta ("Bety") Cariño and Finnish human rights observer Jyri Antero Jaakkola were killed and several people injured when the international aid caravan they were part of was ambushed by paramilitaries.
We urge you to write to the Mexican authorities today to condemn this crime and demand that those responsible be brought to justice.
One hundred years after the birth of International Women's Day, today women workers around the world are celebrating their achievements and renewing their commitment to the fight for women's labour rights. On this historic 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, MSN reaffirms our commitment to the struggle for women's labour rights and to continue organizing to eliminate labour rights abuses in the garment and other industries. Jobs, yes, but jobs with dignity.
A briefing note on the economic impacts of the crisis on Mexico's textile and apparel industry and the Federal Government's response.
In our new publication What can brands do to support freedom of association in Mexico?, MSN sets out some of the most important systemic issues that need to be addressed by brands to ensure that workers in their Mexican supplier factories can exercise their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Between Blue Waters, A History of Violence by Socorro Chablé tells the story of Reyna Ramírez, who started working in maquilas in Puebla, Mexico when she was just 13. Working for years in the unhealthily maquila environment eventually took a toll on her body and she developed throat, respiratory problems, headaches and muscle aches.
Now Reyna heads the Collective of Defiant Women Workers, a Puebla NGO which helps women maquila workers, with a particular focus on health issues. The group is collaborating with the Hesperian Foundation and using several of their publications on workplace health to develop training courses for maquila workers.
The three complainants in a NAFTA labour side agreement case against Mexico were conspicuously absent from a December 3 stakeholder consultation in Puebla, Mexico in which the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico were supposed to discuss Mexico’s commitment to freedom of association.
Five years after the Puebla case was filed, the Worker Assistance Center (CAT) of Mexico, the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) of Canada, and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) of the United States announced they were boycotting the so-called “stakeholder seminar” citing serious flaws in the side agreement process.
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