Canadian and American Steelworkers were in Mexico City in early May for meetings with our allies in the Mexican labour movement. USW International Secretary-Treasurer John Shinn delivered greetings from the Steelworkers to the convention of our longtime ally, the Los Mineros union.
Los Mineros and the Steelworkers have worked together to address workers’ issues at common multinational employers, including steelmaker ArcelorMittal and mining companies Newmont Corporation and Grupo Mexico.
Los Mineros also is a USW partner in the Canada-Mexico Labour Solidarity Project, which is funded by the Canadian government through Employment and Social Development Canada. The project is administered by the Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF), which promotes education on labour rights and organizing in Mexico.
USW District 6 Director Myles Sullivan, accompanied by SHF and Los Mineros representatives, met with Canada’s Deputy Ambassador to Mexico and her staff at the Canadian Embassy. Sullivan emphasized the importance of supporting the Mexican labour movement, in a context in which it remains very difficult for workers to form genuine unions despite recent labour law reforms and the the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Multinational employers and their so-called “protection unions” continue to try to maintain a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions across the continent. Sullivan urged the Canadian government to pay attention to conditions in Mexico, engage with the Mexican authorities, and hold bad corporate actors to account.
The Mexico trip was also a chance for the USW and the SHF to host the second meeting of the International Miners Network. The network was formed earlier this year by unions representing Newmont Corporation workers in Canada (USW), Peru (SITRACOMY, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la CIA Minera Yanacocha), Mexico (Los Mineros) and Argentina (ASIJEMIN, Asociación Sindical del Personal Jerárquico, Profesional y Técnico de la Actividad Minera Argentina). The Australian Workers Union (AWU), representing workers at the Boddington and Cadia mines operated by Newmont, formally joined the network at its most-recent, second meeting.
The newly-expanded network tackled issues including contracting out, health and safety, profit sharing and support for women workers. Participants planned co-ordinated actions across the network and set goals for the coming year, including outreach efforts to unions representing Newmont workers in the Dominican Republic and Ghana to expand the network and to build solidarity.
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