30,000 Factory Workers in Matamoros, Mexico Demand Fair Wages and Democratic Unions

Since January 12, approximately 30,000 workers from 45 autoparts and other manufacturing plants in the city of Matamoros (on the Mexico-US border opposite Brownsville, Texas) have joined work stoppages and demonstrations to demand a general wage increase of 20% and a bonus of 32,000 pesos (US $1600).

The workers have also called for the resignation of the leaders of the two unions that control most of the collective bargaining agreements in Matamoros – the Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales y de La Industria Maquiladora (SJOIIM) and the Sindicato de Trabajadores en Plantas Maquiladoras y Ensambladoras de Matamoros (SITPMEM). Both of these unions are affiliated to the pro-employer Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM)

The protests were triggered by the 100% increase of the Federal minimum wage in the border zone effective January 1, from 88.36 pesos (US $4.50) per day to 176.72 pesos ($9.00) per day. This caused employers to raise the wages of workers who were earning less than the new minimum; however, workers who were making more than the minimum got no increase. The SJOIIM filed a legal strike notice (emplazamiento) for January 25, but the union leadership has remained silent about the negotiations. 

Unlike most border cities, Matamoros has a history of active unionism. Under the leadership of Agapito González in the early 1980s, the SJOIIM won wages significantly higher than other maquiladora workers and contract language requiring increases in the federal minimum to be passed on to all workers, not just those receiving less than the minimum, maintaining the existing contractual differentials. This language still exists in many SJOIIM contracts, and it is what the workers are demanding: raises for all the workers, not just those at the bottom of the pay scale.

The Tamaulipas government, controlled by the right-wing PAN party, has issued a warning to the workers threatening sanctions against of those who participate in the “illegal” work stoppages. There are reports that 25 workers at the Cepillos de Matamoros factory were fired for this reason.

The Federal government has made no statements about the work stoppages. The local employer association has asserted that the work stoppages have cost its members $100 million in lost production and has predicted that factories will relocate to other cities if the protests continue.

There has been no coverage so far in mainstream English language media. Within Mexico, the workers have received solidarity from the National Mine and Steelworkers’ Union - Los Mineros – led by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, which represents two plants in Matamoros. Los Mineros, along with the USW and UNITE in the UK and Ireland, make up the global union Workers Uniting.

It is unclear whether the stoppages have had any impact on auto assembly or other plants in the U.S. Within Mexico, there have been similar walkouts at a few factories in Tamaulipas, specifically Aptiv (formerly Delphi) in Ciudad Victoria and Reynosa, Kemet in Ciudad Victoria, and three plants in Sonora (IGB, Levolor, and Stewart Connector Systems) – but no other widespread work stoppages.

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