On Capitol Hill, Mexican Miners Tell of Police Violence to Break Strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/13/on-capitol-hill-mexican-miners-describe-police-violence-to-break-their-strike/

by James Parks, Feb 13, 2008

A leadership delegation of striking miners from a Grupo Mexico copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, and the United Steelworkers (USW) today asked members of Congress to withhold a $1.4 billion funding package for Mexico’s security forces proposed by the Bush administration until congressional public hearings are held to investigate use of the police and military to violently crush a six-month-old mine strike over unsafe conditions.

Says USW President Leo Gerard:

Mexico cannot be allowed to violate workers’ human rights with impunity under the pretense of securing borders and combating narco-trafficking. The attack on the Cananea miners is just the most recent in a series of repressive actions by the Mexican government.

Nearly 1,000 federal police now are occupying the Cananea copper mine, one of the world’s largest, and the surrounding area, located 70 miles from the U.S. border.

Police and soldiers using tear gas and pellet guns broke up a worker blockade of the Grupo Mexico mine on Jan. 12, following a ruling by Mexico’s labor board that declared the strike illegal and gave miners 24 hours to return to work.

After workers appealed, courts ruled the strike was legal—yet the police and the government are continuing to keep them from picketing or blocking the mine.

Grupo Mexico, a mining and railroad company that is the world’s third-largest copper producer, has ties to ASARCO Inc., an Arizona-based metals company that employs USW members in Arizona and Texas. USW members in Arizona struck Grupo México-owned copper mines for four months in 2005 over the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith.

FULL story at link.