by James Parks, Mar 23, 2011
Unions across the United States and around the world are calling on the Mexican government to reject proposed draconian changes to Mexico’s labor laws that if enacted, would lower wages, destroy job security, increase poverty and violate workers’ and human rights.
The proposals, which are supported by Big Business and President Felipe Calderón’s administration, are similar to the anti-worker bills being pushed through state legislatures in the United States. In a statement, the Union Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), the largest independent trade union confederation in Mexico, says the laws would be:
a regressive initiative that undermines fundamental rights of workers, and strengthens corporate control of labor. It follows the logic of those who think that the only viable offer to overcome the economic crisis is to transfer costs to workers, by reducing wages, lowering job security, and making workers a readily disposable resource for the benefit of capital.
The proposed legislation comes a month after a six-day global Mexico Days of Action, where workers around the world demanded that Mexico’s government allow its workers to enjoy the freedom to form a union, to create safe workplaces and bargain for family-supporting wages.
