22 January, 2009Labour leaders meet with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to urge immediate action in wake of increasing violence and repression against miners' union in Mexico.
USA: Global union leaders have urged the Organisation of American States (OAS) to act immediately on labour and human rights abuses by the Mexican Government.
Secretary of the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Santiago Canton met with a delegation of international labour leaders who travelled to Washington to support an official complaint by the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) in relation to political persecution of their members.
The delegation urged the commission to take immediate measures regarding the Mexican government's illegal seizure of union funds and their refusal to officially recognize Napoleon Gomez Urrutia as elected general secretary of the miners' union.
Napoleon Gomez has been forced into exile following a campaign of violence and threats against him and his family. There are extreme concerns regarding the health and safety of striking workers and community members at three mines owned by Grupo Mexico, the largest and most powerful mining company in the country.
Global unions are calling on the Commission to pressure the Mexican Government to:
- return all frozen funds immediately to the SNTMMSRM, including those seized in 2006 and in 2008;
- lift all trumped up charges still pending against Napoleon Gomez Urrutia and other members of the SNTMMSRM;
- prosecute in a court of law, immediately and transparently, all those responsible in the corruption of documents and facts; and
- recognize Napoleon Gomez as the democratically elected general secretary of the National Mexican Miners' and Metalworkers' Union.
Led by Marcello Malentacchi, general secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation and Juan Luis Zuniga of the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico, the delegation included: international representatives for the United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Steelworkers (USW); Manfred Warda, general secretary of International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM); Stan Gacek of the AFL-CIO; Victor Baez, general secretary of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA-ITUC); and petitioners Marco Del Toro and Luis Chavez from Del Toro Associates as legal representation to the Mexican miners' union.
For more information on the IMF's work in Mexico, go to: www.imfmetal.org/Mexico