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Coordinator: Graciela Bensusan, UAM-X
Collaborators: Melba Casella, Patricia Juan Pineda, Soledad Aragón and Aldo Reyes
This paper focuses on the institutional dimension of the current labour situation in Mexico as well as the perception of these by involved groups.
A brief digest of trends and statistics affecting the Mexican apparel industry
A brief digest of trends and statistics affecting the Mexican apparel industry
Thanks to strong national and international opposition, proposed labour law reforms that would severely erode workers' rights in Mexico have been delayed. The independent trade union movement in Mexico has been denouncing proposed labour law reforms that would, amongst other things, encourage even more precarious work arrangements, uphold the use of "protection contracts" and enable further weakening of unions and denial of legal entitlements through the use of outsourcing, subcontracting, and temporary contracts for young workers.
A long and dramatic struggle at the Johnson Controls Interiors (JCI) factory in Puebla, Mexico, has finally resulted in the expulsion of a sham "protection union" and the signing of a real collective bargaining agreement with Mexico's mineworkers' union (SNTMMSSRM or Los Mineros). The new JCI agreement, signed April 8, 2011, includes a 7.5% wage increase and better benefits for the 800 workers at the factory
In recent years the few genuinely independent trade unions seeking to improve the lives of Mexican workers have found themselves increasingly under fire. This February, trade unions in Canada and around the world joined in actions to support the independent trade union movement in Mexico and the right of Mexican workers to be represented by the union of their free choice. MSN has supported the days of action, working with Canadian and international trade unions to draw attention to continuing violations of the right to freedom of association in Mexico.
MSN is pleased to announce that a collective bargaining agreement was signed on April 8, 2011 between factory management and the independent union. MSN would like to thank all of those who supported JCI workers by spreading this flyer.
The struggle at Johnson Controls factories in Puebla, Mexico, is a glaring example of the problems facing independent trade union organizers in Mexico. In preparation for the Global Days of Action for Trade Union Rights in Mexico, MSN has prepared a new printable flyer for use in workshops, teach-ins, or at rallies.
On December 20, 2010, unidentified robbers broke into the offices of the Worker Support Centre (CAT), a labour rights organization that has been supporting organizing efforts at two Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) factories in Puebla, Mexico, and ransacked the office, destroying equipment and causing more than 200,000 pesos (US$ 16,500) in damage.
Over the last decade the garment industry in and around Tehuacan has gone through a dramatic transition. The combined effects of a variety of factors, including the 2009 global economic crisis, have severely weakened Tehucan's garment industry and made more precarious the living and working conditions in which workers and their families find themselves. In 2010, Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez produced an update to a 2003 report he worked on with MSN and the Human and Labour Rights Commission of Tehuacan on worker rights in the garment industry in Tehuacan. MSN has produced a summary and analysis of his research findings, now available for download.
A new report by MSN and Red Puentes Mexico examining Wal-Mart Mexico's (Walmex) CSR reporting, finds weaknesses in the company's reporting and practices, particularly in the areas of labour rights and the environment. "Walmex needs to better address underlying policy issues such as the presence of protection contracts in most of its retail outlets, its treatment of over 23,000 "volunteer" youth baggers and the lack of consultation with civil society stakeholders on social and environmental issues," says Beatriz Lujan, of the Authentic Labour Front, a member organization of Red Puentes Mexico.
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