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TITLE: Emergency Appeal for Duro Workers (Rio Bravo, Mexico) |
AUTHOR: |
ORG: OWC |
DATE: February 28, 2001 |
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Letter From OWC President Fact Sheet on Duro Bag Workers' Struggle Dear Supporters of labor and human rights: We are writing to ask for your urgent support for the Duro workers in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. We are reprinting below the Emergency Appeal packet published by the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM). Please send your letters of protest today (Thursday, March 1st) to the email addresses indicated below -- as the union elections in Rio Bravo are tomorrow, Friday March 2nd. The OWC Continuations Committee fully supports this effort by the Duro workers to form an independent union. On Friday, February 28, OWC Continuations Committee member Alan Benjamin joined Maria Robinson (a member of the executive board of CJM) and Craig Adair (of the Mexico desk of Global Exchange) in a delegation to the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco in which we delivered to the Acting Consul General, Mr. Arturo Balderas, a statement calling for a union election process free of intimidation and repression for the Duro workers in Rio Bravo. Mr. Balderas said he would transmit our message immediately to the proper authorities in Mexico City and acknowledged that it is impossible for there to be fair union elections if these are not conducted by secret ballot. Again, thank you in advance for your support for the Duro workers. Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109 Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297
For Immediate Release February 27, 2001 Contact: Martha Ojeda, Executive Director 210-240-1084 Judy Ancel, member of the Board 816-835-4745 Will the New Fox Government Protect Maquiladora Workers Rights or Bow to Foreign Corporations and their Mexican Subsidiaries and Unions? The Test Will Be in Rio Bravo Tamaulipas This Friday, March 2nd. Last night in Rio Bravo, a group of about twenty women workers - members of a new independent union at the Duro Bag Company - and a handful of allies from organizations in Mexico City, Valle Hermoso, and the U.S. - members of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras faced their worst nightmare. They were surrounded in the Hotel La Mansion and menaced by forty to fifty thugs brought in by Duro Bag from Mexico City "unions", the CROC and CTM all trying to block a democratic election scheduled for Friday at the company. The police lounged outside, refusing to intervene. Word got out by phone to CJM members in three countries who tried to mobilize a response, but Rio Bravo is remote, and the local authorities had earlier that day refused to take complaints by the workers when they were beaten and almost run over by the thugs. In desperation a U.S. board member of CJM called the U.S. consul in Matamoros to appeal for intervention on behalf of the of Americans in the group. Then, as if by providence, a group from a Catholic lay organization arrived from Matamoros, led by a priest and a young politician. The priest proceeded to talk to the workers in front of the thugs telling them to be brave and that the church was behind them. The thugs began to back off. Calls were made by the politician to federal officials. Then the police arrived calling out the name of the non-Hispanic American, and forcing the thugs to withdraw. Thus the Mexican government provided the crucial police protection not to its own citizens but to avoid an international incident. Just another day of routine organizing among Mexico's impoverished and abused maquiladora workforce, or an incident that shows the opposing forces mounting in the pressure cooker of the U.S. Mexican border? After a determined campaign by the Duro Bag workers for over a year and support for them by CJM and its member organizations in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, the Fox administration finally scheduled the recuento or union representation election, which the workers had petitioned for six months ago. The election will be held on Friday March 2nd at 9;30 A.M. at the Duro plant, located on the outskirts of Rio Bravo. However, the Mexican labor board rejected the independent union's request for a secret ballot election on neutral ground, despite an agreement reached between the U.S. and Mexican government to promote secret ballot elections. Thus, workers must declare out loud before a panel of bosses and union representatives which union they will vote for. Since the election is to be held inside the company, it will control access. The atmosphere of repression and violence has escalated in Rio Bravo with many recent firings of independent union supporters, daily threats by Duro that anyone voting for the independent union will be fired; that if the independent union wins, they will close the plant; and the thugs, who block the workers' efforts to leaflet and do house calls and attack them in the street. Meanwhile, pressure builds as independent unions in Mexico call on the Fox Administration to bring this rogue corporation and the traditional impunity of gangster unions under control. On Monday in the U.S., religious leaders, unions, and students rallied at Duro's headquarters in Ludlow Kentucky as company executives sneaked out the back door, rather than face the two women workers from Rio Bravo who came from Mexico to tell their stories and the extensive media that came to cover it. Demonstrations against Hallmark, Duro's largest customer and Mexican consulates are continuing this week. (There were 20 demonstrations against Hallmark around Valentines Day.) On Friday, election observers from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada will monitor the election, but it's clear that despite the strong and defiant support by the workers for the new union, the deck may be completely stacked against them. Without dramatic action by the Fox government, it will be evident that nothing has changed for Mexican workers. Duro is a Kentucky-based maker of gift bags for Hallmark, Neiman Marcus and others. Rio Bravo is near Reynosa, which is just across the border from McAllen, Texas. The Duro workers are receiving support from a variety of U.S., Mexican, and Canadian organizations allied in the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, which is based in San Antonio, Texas.
Send Letters Demanding a Free, SECRET-BALLOT Election to Company and Government. Our demands to government officials are: § Provide for a democratic union election at a neutral public place § Insure a secret ballot § Protect workers from intimidation and threats by police, company, and CTM and CROC thugs Send letters to: With copies to: Virgilio Mena Becerra, President, Federal Conciliation & Arbitration Board: Fax: 01152 (5) 645-2345, Email: Governor Tomas Yarrington, State of Tamaulipas: Email tamps@infosel.net.mx. Fax: 01152 (1) 318 8701 Our demands to Duro and Hallmark are: § Duro should stop interfering with the workers' right to choose their own representative. They should stop all support of the CTM, CROC and Emancipation and stay out of it. They should get rid of their hired thugs. § Duro must not only stop threatening workers that they will shut down the plant, stop lying about the independent union, and promise to keep the plant open no matter which union wins. Send letters to: Charles Shor, Duro Bag Company: Fax 859-581-8327, email info@durobag.com Irv Hockaday, CEO, Hallmark: Fax (816) 274-7555, info@hallmark.com (Tell Hallmark to insist that Duro do the above things) Send copies of all letters to CJM at fax 210-732-8324 4. Make a financial contribution to the campaign. We are desperate for funds for organizing expenses, van rental for transportation to vote, travel for Mexican organizers and for Duro workers to speak in Cincinatti. Make checks to "Emergency Support Fund" and mail to The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, 530 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78228. Fact Sheet on Duro Bag Workers' Struggle (February 26, 2001 History of the Duro Struggle) The Duro plant is a maquiladora located in the city of Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, near Reynosa and McAllen Texas,. Duro-Rio Bravo assembles gift bags for corporations such as Hallmark and Neiman Marcus. The company is large, privately held, family-owned and is based in Ludlow, Kentucky. Duro workers put up their strike banners on June 12 in order to establish an independent union and to force the reinstatement of their elected leaders who had been illegally fired in April for refusing to agree to a sweetheart contract negotiated with the company by the National Paperworkers Union (CTM). They have been occupying an encampment in Rio Bravo's town plaza since that day. When they struck, they were attacked and beaten by police armed with machine guns, arrested on trumped up charges (subsequently dismissed), and later blacklisted with all maquilas in town. The workers demand the right to be represented by a union willing to negotiate better working conditions such as: medical attention inside the plant, bathroom breaks, basic safety equipment (there are no guards on cutting machinery, and workers have lost fingers) and sanitary conditions in the bathrooms and cafeteria (the workers complained of mouse feces in the food). They also want an end to constant harassment (including sexual) and threats from management. The state government has acknowledged that Duro has some of the worst working conditions of any of the maquiladoras in the area. After a summer of organizing and mobilization nationally and internationally, they succeeded in winning the first legal registration of an independent union in the history of the state of Tamaulipas. The Duro Workers Union then filed for a recuento or representation election to win the right to negotiate the contract away from the national CTM union. They filed for this election in late September with over 400 workers' signatures. The plant then had 700 workers. It now has 1200. Since then, they have been subject to hearing after hearing all seemingly aimed at never scheduling an election date. There have been two so-called phantom unions (with no base in Rio Bravo let alone the plant) introduced by Duro and certified by the Conciliation & Arbitration Board to be on the ballot (a stalling tactic). The intimidation and violence have continued. On October 31st the shack of their leader was firebombed. He is convinced Duro was behind it, but the authorities concluded that the fire was caused by the wind which made the nails in the corrugated tin roof scrape against the metal and cause a spark (!) The Current Situation Knowing that the independent union's support is growing, the CTM union secretary general spent several days at the plant in late January shutting down line-by-line and holding captive audience meetings to tell the workers to vote against the independent union which he claims is controlled by foreigners who want their jobs back. Then on Friday, January 26, the entire second shift was threatened with firing if they voted for the Duro Workers Union, and 20 workers were fired for giving information to the union and organizing. On February 5 an additional ten workers were fired for organizing. Finally, after numerous demonstrations targeting Duro's customer Hallmark and a letter from 43 members of the US Congress to Mexican President Fox between February 10-15, The Federal Conciliation & Arbitration Board, at a hearing on February 19, scheduled the union election for March 2. However, the election was to be on company premises (not a neutral place as requested) and without a secret ballot, also requested by the independent union. There was an immediate increase in threats and intimidation from the company as well as an increase in the number of goons belonging to the CTM and CROC and police threatening the workers. What's at Stake Here The workers had hoped that the new Fox administration would improve the administration of Federal Labor Law and respect the right to Freedom of Association guaranteed under it. However, the new Secretary of Labor is a former head of COPARMEX, the association of industrial employers, and COPARMEX has taken over legal representation of Duro at labor board hearings. The Board has continued the same illegal actions as the previous administration and in scheduling the election without a secret ballot, has reneged on promises made by the Zedillo administration to the U.S. and Canada during talks over several NAFTA Labor Side Accord cases. If the Duro workers succeed in getting an election, and if the election is democratic enough for them to win, then a real union, committed to negotiating improvements in wages and working conditions in the maquiladoras will have been born. This would be a tremendous breakthrough. Of course, that's why COPARMEX, Duro and political leaders from Fox to Governor Yarrington of the State of Tamaulipas, to the local Labor Board are all working hard to make sure this doesn't happen. The authorities blame everything on outside agitators - Americans who come to take their jobs back and on Mexicans intent on economic destabilization. The more the company and government fire, threaten and harass the Duro workers, however, the more determined they seem to be. So far they have weathered nine months of hunger and repression, and they see their movement growing both inside the plant and among an increasing number of allies in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The support campaign is being coordinated by the San Antonio Texas-based Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, a tri-national coalition of border groups, unions, faith-based organizations, fair trade, and environmental groups. Key support has come from the FAT (Authentic Workers Front) and the UNT (National Union of Workers) in Mexico, from PACE (Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers) in the U.S. and Campaign for Labor Rights, the CEP (Communications, Energy, and Paper Union) and the Canadian Labour Congress in Canada and numerous other organizations in all three countries. These groups are providing organizers, legal support, political pressure on the Mexican government and pressure on Duro and customers like Hallmark as well as crucial financial support for the workers and the campaign. The stakes are getting higher every day. When they began their struggle, none of the largely young and female workers thought about the possibility of making real progress against a global economy which offers them only deadly working conditions, starvation wages and daily assaults on their dignity, but this struggle could win real gains. The forces are arrayed on both sides, and the Duro workers' determination and support in across the continent offer a real opportunity for a big step forward. For more information, contact, The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (210) 732-8957 END |