On July 1, Mexicans went to the polls to elect a president and Members of Congress. The stagnation of the economy, lack of opportunities for decent employment for young people and the terrible violence of the drug war were key issues motivating the voters.  Unfortunately, both the incumbent PAN party and one of the other challenging parties, the PRI,  support so-called labor law reforms that would undermine worker rights while weakening social protections.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, sounds like a friendly little cooperative endeavor, doesn't it?  Or maybe a new kind of bathroom tissue?   Well, it's neither of those things.  It's a proposed "free trade agreement," like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), but with 11 countries instead of three. The negotiations, held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, brought out almost 200 union members along with allies from Occupy San Diego, La Fuerza Unida, Friends of the Earth and other groups on Monday to express concern about the possible ramifications to their jobs, their families and the American economy.  Trade negotiators from the U.S. were at the Hilton all week working on the negotiations with representatives from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  Mexico and Canada were recently added to the TPP—but have not yet participated in the talks.

Today, the United States Trade Representative announced that Mexico will be invited to join the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP).  Although the U.S. already has extensive trade relations with Mexico through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says. Mexico’s inclusion in the TPP could have significant impacts on workers in both countries.

José Enrique Morales Montaño, of the Center of Support for Workers (CAT) in Puebla was kidnapped and physically tortured on May 15 as he was headed to the local labor board to accompany a group of textile workers, according to the international labor news aggregator, LabourStart. His captors kept a gun pressed to his head for extended periods and threatened to kill him and the other members of the CAT. In the evening of the same day, they left him on an abandoned highway to Veracruz, and stole his cell phone and backpack; he suffered serious injuries. The next morning, CAT Director Blanca Velázquez received a message from Montaño’s stolen cell phone stating: “You will die, bitch.”

Click here to take action and demand a swift resolution to this injustice.

Elizabeth Boomer of the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department sends us this.

PKC, a Finnish auto parts corporation with production facilities located in more than 10 countries in Asia, South America, Europe and North America, recently acquired a subsidiary named Arneses y Accesorios de Mexico. The workers in the plants want the National Miners’ and Metalworkers Union (Los Mineros) to represent them, but PKC North America President and CEO Frank Sovis informed the workers that “to protect itself and jobs, the company has decided to sign a collective agreement with the Mexican Confederation of Workers” (CTM).

Elizabeth Boomer of the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department sends us this.

February 19-25 are global days of action for trade union rights in Mexico. In Washington, D.C., the AFL-CIO will hold an event today, Feb. 23, in front of the Mexican Embassy at noon. The Embassy is at 1911 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.

Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department’s Global Campaigns section sends us this report.

In a recent rally in Mexico City, representatives of communications and IT unions from around the world demanded the giant communications firm, Telefonica, end its efforts to block workers from gaining an authentic voice at the workplace. Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a longtime ally and partner of the Mexican telecom union, the Sindicato de Telefonistas de la Republica Mexicana (STRM), was among the global union leaders who led the march and spoke at the rally.

The ambassadors of El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic joined Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis today to sign a historic partnership to protect the labor rights of migrant workers from these countries who are employed in the United States.

To date, 682,900 U.S. jobs have been lost or displaced since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study finds. The main reason for the job loss is a $97.2 billion trade deficit with Mexico. In 1993, one year before NAFTA was implemented, the United States had a $1.6 billion trade surplus with Mexico that supported nearly 30,000 U.S.  jobs.  

Over the past five years, the Mexican government has unleashed a systematic attack on workers’ rights. Despite the continuing repression, Mexico’s independent, democratic unions organize and represent the rights of workers. Some of the most egregious attacks have been on the Mine, Metal and Steel Workers Union (SNTMMSSRM), also known as Los Mineros.