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Strong Crossborder Support
for Striking Cananea Workers borderlines UPDATER January 26, 1998 An occasional electronic service of the Interhemispheric Resource Center's (IRC) U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Project. For more information read the footer of this message or visit our website at http://www.zianet.com/irc1/ Our apologies for any duplicate postings. CONTENTS: 1. Strong Crossborder Support for Striking Cananea Workers 2. A Shady Deal 3. Negotiations Stalled: Crossborder Support Worries Company 4. Contacts and Resources for Additional Information STRONG CROSSBORDER SUPPORT FOR STRIKING CANANEA WORKERS by Nancy Hand* "We have a self interest in what happens across the border because of NAFTA," says AFL-CIO Arizona State Field Director, Jerry Acosta, "because the employers here that are taking advantage of workers are moving across borders to do the same thing on the other side-they have a no-borders mentality." Seeking to create that same no-borders mentality among unionists, Acosta is one of the leaders of a strong solidarity effort that has sprung up in Southern Arizona to support 2100 striking mine workers in the town of Cananea, in northern Mexico. The miners struck November 19 in response to the company's attempts to reduce wages and close several departments at the copper mine, which is the second largest in Mexico and is known for its historically strong union. Also at issue are a series of contract violations that date back to Mexican conglomerate Grupo Mexico's purchase of the former state-owned enterprise in 1989 in a deal that has been looked on with suspicion, since Grupo Mexico's was not the highest bid and the company's owner, well-known Mexican billionaire Jorge Larrea is said to be a close friend of then president Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The mobilization effort began when four of the striking miners, assigned to the public relations commission by their union, hitchhiked to Tucson to attend a meeting of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos/Arizona Border Rights Project to tell the group of the situation and ask for support. Just two weeks later, several tons of food and clothing had been collected and were loaded onto 14 trucks and vans to make the three-hour trip to Cananea. Acosta was among the group of some three dozen unionists and members of Tucson-based community groups who went to the town of 33,000 on December 18 to deliver the aid to the workers and their families along with an equally important message of support for the miners from Southern Arizona and beyond: the AFL-CIO's representative in Mexico City, Tim Beaty, flew in for the event with a message of support from President John Sweeney and the 13 million workers the organization represents. Beaty was sent to Cananea from Mexico city as a result of Southern Arizona's organizing efforts. Cananea "got onto our map to a large extent because of the activism in Southern Arizona," says Beaty, "they requested support from headquarters, and that's how I got involved." Representative of a new, NAFTA-era perspective on the part of the unions, the mobilization may lead to a broader, more sustained effort to match the companies' cross-border activities. "The other question for us," says Acosta, "is whether we work jointly [with unionists in Mexico] on identifying those corporate entities doing damage on both sides of the border. We'd like to take a look at Grupo Mexico more closely and tackle the question of how people are exploited on both sides." But Acosta's interest in Cananea goes beyond union solidarity, beyond his union job to the personal and the historic, and his is one story among many like it in this vast and complex border region. "That's where my parents are from," says Acosta, "I've got cousins that are in that mine now. I know the history of that mine and I lost an uncle in that mine. I understand the kind of blood and sweat that's gone through that mine." The mine has also played a part in both U.S. and Mexican history. In an article profiling Larrea, Forbes magazine described the mine as, "a piece of U.S./Mexican history." The then U.S.-owned copper mine at Cananea, the magazine wrote, was "where a bloody 1906 strike-put down by invading vigilantes from Texas-simmered and helped provoke the 1910 Mexican revolution." Though there are no "invading vigilantes" this time, the invading forces of neoliberalism have played a role in the current conflict. "After ten years of neoliberal policies," author John Ross has written, "18 small groups of investors control 98 percent of the nation's financial reserves and the banks that hold them. During Salinas' six years in office (1988-1994), 13 Mexicans have achieved billionaire status." Larrea is one of those 13, and Cananea was not his only acquisition during the intensive privatization of the Salinas years. President Salinas' sale of the mine was signaled by Forbes as the "start of [Mexico's] reform era." The auction of the state enterprise was part of a larger process of privatization of over 1,000 state industries and services vigorously pursued by the Salinas government in preparation for NAFTA. A SHADY DEAL Tucson attorney and leader of the support effort, Jesus Romo, promised the workers he would approach the Lawyers' Guild to investigate the questionable circumstances of the transfer to Larrea, who Forbes rated the third richest man in Mexico with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion in 1995. "When the highest bid isn't accepted," said Romo, "something fishy is going on." Romo speculates that Grupo Mexico may have been favored because of Larrea's close ties to President Salinas and the company's reputation as a union buster. According to Romo, the Salinas administration made an unsuccessful attempt to break the union shortly before the privatization. "Apparently Grupo Mexico was the beneficiary of a lot of different privatization efforts," says Romo, "there could be a multitude of violations going on. These were privatizations that were sanctioned internationally under the presumption that they were carried out pursuant to existing international standards." Romo also promised to investigate the company's failure to turn over shares in the company promised to the workers in the original sales contract but never delivered. The workers' five percent of the stock was originally estimated to be worth $19 million and is now put at over $70 million. The company says the fall in copper prices on the international market necessitate the wage and health benefit cuts it intends to implement, but according to an article in La Jornada, Merrill Lynch estimates that the fall in international copper prices "will not prevent the company from reaching over $1.75 billion in revenues in 1998." NEGOTIATIONS STALLED Crossborder Support Worries Company Manuel Romero, general secretary of the miners' union charges that the company provoked the strike with months of stalled negotiations and broken promises and may be taking advantage of the lower copper prices to minimize the cost of what Romero considers an attempt to break the union. Company representatives acknowledged in an Arizona Daily Star article that they have "tried to curb what they see as excessive union power at the mine." Negotiations in Mexico City are at an apparent impasse. Both sides are unwilling to budge on the issue of layoffs and the closure of three departments at the mine. The union believes the company wants to replace the union workers in the departments identified for closure with non-union contractors, and insists it will only accept a return to work for all 2100 workers, with no reprisals for the strike. The union wants to go back to work and then return to the negotiating table to talk about the other issues. But the company, union officials say, is trying to "starve" the workers into submission. The U.S. support effort seems to be hampering the company's efforts to do that, however. One of it's initial demands at the negotiating table was that the union stop its mobilization efforts in the U.S. Three of the four mine workers whose early December hitchhike to Tucson sparked the support effort report receiving calls from company attorneys offering to pay them an unspecified sum and reinstate their salaries if they would agree not to continue their work in the United States. The miners' response is clear: they were recently back in Tucson working with labor leaders and community groups to continue the food drive and stage a support rally in Tucson on January 27, and they are planning to visit Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and San Antonio to tell their story and seek support for their cause. Nancy Hand (75204.137@compuserve.com) is a freelance writer and Spanish translator/interpreter based in Tucson. CONTACTS AND SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
Hispanics Are a Formidable Economic Force, Leader Says, (posted 1/28/99) By Georgia Pabst, staff writer Hispanics in the United States are often described as a sleeping giant, but that's a myth, says the head of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "We're quiet, but we're not sleeping," said George Herrera, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, during a weekend visit to Milwaukee. "We have participated in this economy for years. We've paid our dues, established Hispanics in every job sector of the economy, and now it's time to leverage our resources and purchasing power and turn it into economic development for our communities," he said. In an interview and during remarks at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin's annual banquet Saturday night at the Pfister Hotel, Herrera said Hispanics today have purchasing power that totals $348 billion. He also cited these statistics: 1.3 million Hispanic-owned businesses operate in the U.S. Hispanic businesses employ 1.5 million workers with payrolls amounting to $35 billion. By 2000, Hispanic businesses will employ 4 million workers and generate payrolls of more than $100 billion. Between 1987 and 1996, the number of Hispanic businesses owned by women increased 206%. Herrera said Hispanics have already demonstrated their loyalty to American corporations and now want a reciprocal association. "We bought from you, now we want you to buy from us," he said. He said the chamber has met with the Avis corporation and with representatives from the Miller Brewing Co. He said those corporations were very receptive and interested in discussing the increased utilization of Hispanic businesses. He noted that by 2015, Hispanics will be the largest ethnic group in the U.S. "The average age of Hispanics is 25, compared to 37 for the general market population," he said. Hispanic children are now the largest group of children entering first grade, he added. "We are a community that's getting bigger, that's young and that will be here for years to come," he said. Herrera, 41, who is of Puerto Rican and Chilean descent and was born and raised in Brooklyn, took over as president and CEO of the chamber in August. Until then he had been president of David J. Burgos and Associates, a company established by his sister in 1973, and one of the largest minority consulting firms in the state of New York. He is co-founder of the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was recently listed by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. Herrera said the Hispanic community must create an awareness of the correlation between political and economic power. Hispanic businesses must also provide opportunities and reinvest in Hispanic youth. "We have to create an awareness among Hispanic youth that when you graduate, it's OK to be an employer and not just an employee." Gore Courts Hispanics in Denver, (posted 1/28/99) By Mike Soraghan Jan. 24 - Vice President Al Gore, a leading presidential contender for 2000, cultivated the Hispanic vote Saturday during a visit to Denver, rolling off accented Spanish sentences as he addressed one of Colorado's most prominent Latino groups. Gore emphasized public education and in particular Hispanic education. He chastised those who would send tax dollars to private schools and outlined a new administration proposal to spend nearly $500 million to improve education for Hispanic students. "We cannot be satisfied with a nation with a Hispanic dropout rate that numbers near 20 percent," Gore said. "This is one of the most serious challenges that faces us today, and we must conquer that challenge." He also warned that a new "baby boom" is threatening to swamp public schools unless the nation rises to the occasion the way it did in the '50s with more resources. "This new generation deserves our support," Gore said. He made his remarks to a crowd of more than 1,600 at a black-tie gala celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Latin American Educational Foundation, which raises money to give scholarships to Hispanic students. Gore's visit and its theme demonstrated the increasing political clout of Hispanics in the country. Gore has been actively courting the Hispanic vote, but so have potential rivals such as House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and GOP Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Latinos make up more than 10 percent of the nation's population and are projected to overtake blacks as the country's largest minority group in the years following 2000. Gore got applause when he switched from English to Spanish, but a number of hands stayed on laps when Gore called his boss, President Clinton, "one person at the heart of all the progress we've seen in America today." Gore would become president in the unlikely case that the Senate voted to remove Clinton from office because of the Monica Lewinsky affair. But Gore did not mention the case that is dominating Washington, and he steered well clear of reporters, who were likely to ask about it. Instead, he stuck to cheerleading and his policy proposal for Hispanic students. The plan he outlined would just about double the amount of money for the Hispanic Education Plan passed in the 1999 federal budget. The plan would put $320 million into raising basic reading and math skills at schools in the Title I program. The majority of Hispanic students attend schools served by Title I, according to the administration. Another $160 million would go to training more teachers to help students learn English, prepare disadvantaged students for college and improve education for migrants. He stressed that the nation's economic boom has taken place under the Clinton administration and that the tide has lifted Hispanics. Gore said the Clinton years have included the largest two-year increase in Hispanic family income and the lowest Hispanic poverty on record. He also said the Clinton years have seen more government appointments of Latinos "than at any time in our history." Gore did not directly mention his presidential aspirations. But Hispanic politicians said they knew they were being courted and liked the attention. "He recognizes the strength he can have in the Hispanic community," said state Rep. Frana Mace, D-Denver, as she waited for Air Force Two to land at Denver International Airport. "It's important that he pursues the Hispanic vote because it's starting to make a difference." State Rep. Gloria Leyba, D-Denver, noted that Gore could also have been attracted to Denver by the possibility of a Western states primary, which would give Colorado and other Western states more clout in the selection of a presidential nominee. Highlighting his message of Latin American education, Gore stepped from the plane to a brief tarmac meeting with a group of Hispanic students from Denver's West High School. Several of the students have been involved in lobbying the Regional Transportation District board and the Denver City Council against tobacco ads. The audience would have been star-studded even if the country's No. 2 man had stayed home. Actors, business leaders and other politicians gave the black-tie gala a celebrity sheen. Jimmy Smits, recently of TV's "NYPD Blue," and Edward James Olmos, made famous in TV's "Miami Vice," brought a little Hollywood to the event. US West President Sol Trujillo and Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris were among the corporate dignitaries. Political figures like Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar and Federico Pen~a also attended. The celebrities even left Gore feeling a little upstaged. After he introduced Smits and Olmos, a buzz went through the room, and Gore had to beg to get attention focused back on him. "I mean, I'm vice president of the United States," Gore pleaded with a grin. JSRI Home | Community Connections | Latino News Archives
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