This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95
newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send
to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:47:28 -0500
From: Steven Colatrella <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mexican Union Has Complaint Against North Carolina
Mexican Union Has Complaint Against North Carolina
By Kathleen Miller
The Associated Press
Wednesday 18 October 2006
Mexican union to file NAFTA labor complaint against North Carolina.
Mexico City - A Mexican union federation said Tuesday it will file a
complaint under the North American Free Trade Agreement against the state of
North Carolina's ban on collective bargaining for public employees.
The union group, the Authentic Labor Front, said Wednesday's filing will
be the first time it has logged an official complaint against a US state,
though it has used the NAFTA labor provisions in the past to target alleged
violations by private US companies.
The United Electrical Workers, or UE, a union that has roughly 3,000
members in North Carolina, asked the Mexican labor leaders to assist them in
their efforts to repeal a state law prohibiting state and local governments
from entering into collective bargaining deals with their employees.
"We didn't come here to make a case against Mexican employers," Arturo
Alcalde, the Mexican labor group's legal director, told a news conference.
"Rather, we came in solidarity with the public sector workers of North
Carolina, who are dealing with ... a state law that violates fundamental
rights, international agreements, basic principles of coexistence and the
foundation of an agreement that was created to improve labor relations."
UE Director of Organization Robert Kingsley told the news conference the
UE reached out to a Mexican labor organization because North Carolina has a
$6 billion trading relationship with Mexico and he believes unions' best
chance to negotiate with global corporations is to work across borders.
UE has had a strategic alliance with the Authentic Labor Front since
1992, when both groups worked together to oppose NAFTA. In 1994, United
Electrical Workers aided the Mexican labor group by filing a joint complaint
about the anti-union practices of General Electric at one of its factory in
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
-------
--
To unsubscribe from this list send a message containing the words
unsubscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or
chiapas95-espanol) to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Previous messages
are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of
Economics, Mailing Lists.
