17 February 2011

New Zealand union representatives rallied outside the Mexican Embassy in Wellington today in support of Mexican workers’ rights as part of an international week of solidarity actions.

A delegation from the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), Service and Food Workers’ Union (SFWU), National Distribution Union (NDU), Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and Financial Sector Union (Finsec) also presented a letter to the Charge D’Affaires at the embassy urging the Mexican government to recognise workers’ rights and comply with UN ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association.

“The failures of the Mexican Government to guarantee workers’ rights and to investigate and punish those responsible for illegal acts of violence and intimidation against independent trade unions are unacceptable in a democratic society,” says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.

“The Mexican government must take immediate action to guarantee trade union rights, cease the use of force against the legitimate activities of independent trade unions and end the destabilisation and persecution of the Mexican Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (Los Mineros), Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME) and other independent unions,” says Andrew Little.

“We also call on the New Zealand Government to urge Mexico to honour its commitments as a member of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) and to guarantee freedom of association for all Mexican workers,” he says.

“The ILO says that in the long-running dispute between the union, Los Mineros, and the mining company, Grupo Mexico, the Mexican government has acted in a way that was incompatible with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association,” he says.

ENDS

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