www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, April-May 2006Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch WeerthMexican mine disasterThe Feb. 19 explosion at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila that killed 65 miners has had ongoing repercussions in Mexico. A two-day general strike of mine workers was held on March 1-2 that affected eight northern and central Mexican states, halting production at 70 companies. The strike involved 270,000 workers and was only the second time since the founding of the national mineworkers union in 1934 that a general strike has been called. Then, on March 7, 30,000 workers rallied in Mexico City in support of miners. Both of these events were held in part because the Vicente Fox administration has moved to remove the president of the mine workers union, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who expressed some mild criticism of the general state of mine safety in the days after the explosion. The families of the 65 miners killed and their supporters have continued with their protests at the offices of the owner of the mine, Industrial Minera Mexico, and its parent company, Grupo Mexico, because the owners say it will take them months to dig the bodies out. The conditions in the mines has deteriorated greatly in recent years. Union workers work alongside "contratistas," other workers who are legally self-employed (and non-union) but are doing the exact same jobs. After a youth was killed in a mine in Queretaro, March 7, it was reported that only one of the 60 mines in that state is operating legally. The rest are "abandoned" mines. |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
