Support Mexican sugar workers' strike: send a message of support now...
Submitted by mark osborn on November 27, 2006 - 11:58pm.
Strike action by the IUF-affiliated Sugar and Allied Workers' Union of Mexico (STIASRM) has halted production at the country's 58 sugar mills since November 16, the beginning of the harvest. The union is demanding a 15% wage increase to compensate for loss of purchasing power, but the primary issue in the dispute is retirement benefits. More than 3,000 workers over 60 years of age, with 35 years or more on the job, are not receiving the benefits which are their legal entitlement under the 1958 law which established the rights of workers in the sector.
Some 440,000 workers are employed in Mexico's sugar industry, which generates another 2.5 million jobs in related employment. Negotiations for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement have been taking place under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour since the bargaining deadlock prompted the union to call a national strike.
The IUF Regional Secretariat for Latin America has set up an automated message system for sending messages of support for the sugar workers' struggle to Mexico's President and the federal Secretaries for Agriculture and Social Security.
Send a message of support, click here:
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=3863&v...
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strike news
From the IUF:
The Mexican sugar workers' union STIASRM suspended their nine-day national strike on November 24 subject to reaching agreement with employers on the disputed retirement system by January 20. The union has vowed to resume industrial action if no agreement is found. The IUF Latin American regional secretariat, which had set up an automated message system for sending solidarity messages to the Mexican government, has suspended this action pending the outcome of the negotiations.
Some 45,000 workers in 58 mills began striking on November 16 - the start of the 2006-7 harvest - to support their demands for a 15% wage increase and a resolution of the retirement situation of 3,000 workers over 60 years of age, with 35 years or more on the job, who are not receiving the benefits which are their legal entitlement under the 1958 law which established the rights of workers in the sector.
As a condition for suspending the strike, a joint union-management commission has been established to address the retirement issue, and wages will be paid for the 9-day strike period.