Fresh from a series of resounding legal victories, Mexican mine workers leader Napoleón Gómez has written a book that exposes the Mexican government’s seven-year campaign to destroy democratic unions and drive down workers’ wages. Gómez won the AFL-CIO’s Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award in 2011.

As part of a six-day worldwide labor solidarity campaign, American union members protested outside the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., yesterday in support of greater trade union rights and protections in Mexico.

This Thursday at noon, working families in Washington, D.C., will be rallying at the Mexican Embassy in solidarity with workers in Mexico as part of a global Day of Action. The campaign is based around four basic goals to:

Trade unions and the 175 million workers with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) joined together Oct. 7 and called for decent jobs and respect for workers' rights on the annual World Day for Decent Work. This year, the AFL-CIO honored the day by standing in solidarity with Hyatt hotel workers and workers at the Mexican operations of the Finnish auto parts manufacturer PKC. 

Letters from AFL-CIO unions to workers mobilizing to win respect and a union voice on the job at Hyatt and PKC pledged their solidarity and support. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the letters from the unions:

will tell the workers that we support their rights to organize and bargain—the only road forward for fairness and decent work...

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.