A USW delegation brought a message of solidarity on Dec. 11 to Mexican mineworkers who have been on strike for more than five weeks against Torex Gold, a Canadian mining company.
“Steelworkers in the United States and Canada and workers around the world support your fight,” District 12 Director Bob LaVenture told the striking workers assembled outside Gate #3 of the mine, in Cocula in the state of Guerrero.
LaVenture and Sub-District 2 Director Manny Armenta also met with workers and community leaders in the nearby town of Nuevo Balsas, where many of the workers live. Residents of local communities have supported the workers, who went on strike Nov. 3 to demand that the company cancel its contract with the CTM union and recognize Los Mineros.
Torex signed a contract in 2013 with the CTM, an employer-dominated union, before any workers had been hired. On Nov. 18, members of a “community police” group linked to the CTM killed two workers, Víctor and Marcelino Sahuanitla Peña, who were employed by a Torex contractor and supported the strike.
“All the gold in this mine is not worth the life of one worker,” LaVenture said at the site of a monument erected by the community to honor the Sahuanitla Peña bothers.
“These tragic events underscore the need for a forceful approach by the Canadian government to the issue of labour rights in Mexico in the current NAFTA negotiations” said a letter sent yesterday to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from USW President Leo W. Gerard, National Director for Canada Ken Neumann, and Los Mineros President and General Secretary Napoleón Gómez