This last Friday- March 2- international supporters came from Canada and the US, to help support a small local group of workers in a virtually unknown town on the US/ Mexican border. We were there to observe and monitor a union recognition election, held by the Mexican governmental Labor Board. Why the importance of this event in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas? Rio Bravo is another of those exploding Mexican border towns, whose population growth has been fueled by the destruction of the Mexican countryside, and the subsequent desperate search for a new income. It is really almost a part of nearby Reynosa, a sprawling explosion of industry and poorly planed growth. all pegged to the US market. Reynosa employment is dominated by Dephi (General Motors) and other US companies, and has a population close to 700,000. The company, Duro Bag, where the workers were struggling to have an independent union, is not even a dominant employer in the area. Yet the militancy of the workers stood out in their brave struggle for workers dignity. And that's what this strike was about, even as much as it was a struggle for a higher wage. Most of us observers from Canada, and the US, had major problems in understanding all that was going on chaotically around us in Spanish. Both culture and language were significantly different than our own. Yet one thing was clearly understood by even the most superficial glance; these were a group of workers that clearly felt terrorized by their employer. These were a group of workers that had been held captive in the plant, on more than a single occasion. They were a group of workers, that had been repeatedly threatened with losing their jobs, as many already had. But there was yet an even greater threat than that, that was constant around us. These were a group of workers that felt that they might be killed, or injured physically. And maybe even their families might be hurt, too. And from what the international observers saw, this was not an unreasonable fear. As we arrived at the hotel where our meetings were held, a small group of thuggish individuals kept watch on us. The hotel workers appeared fearful of even smiling, or appearing to be cordial in the most minor manner. Leaving the hotel the next morning to go to the plant gate, we were met by a bizarre scene. The workers supporting the union, were locked outside the plant gates in the mud. And the second shift of workers was locked inside, and not allowed to leave. Police in unmarked vehicles soon began to arrive and looked on at us with derisive and sullen expressions, as they sandwiched us from two sides on the isolated dirt road. An ambulance and a paddy wagon also pulled up ominously. Why do I say ominously? It was because the workers had been already been threatened by armed thugs, both inside the plant, and outside in their own neighborhoods, where many had been given surprise visits in the days before. As the morning passed, tension rose. Chants of .... Rats, get out, leave!.... and.... Look who's scared, now!.... began to change into an ominous silence of sorts. This was because the police presence had mounted, and also because of the loud music emanating from inside the plant. The plant administration had combined the kidnapping of the second shift workers, with a party inside. The effect of this, was to combine loud music, sleep deprivation, fear of personal injury from armed goons both inside the plant and out, PLUS the fear of losing one's job. All voters had to declare their vote in front of company managers. Meanwhile, shortly after one in the afternoon, in the eery silence of the created tension..... a car left from the plant, that supposedly then struck a worker.... that led to the car being thumped on the side. A van then cut off the departure of this car. At this point, police began to converge on the vehicle, and over half the workers from around the gate left, to run and see what was occurring. Rumors began to fly, that guns had been found in the trunk that were being snuck out under the pretense of escorting a pregnant worker off the plant grounds. Later it turns out, that the union lawyers inside, were told that an incident had occurred with the departure of the woman from the plant. They were accused of being in support of violence against a pregnant woman, and were threatened verbally and menaced with possible harm, due to the supposed evil misdeeds of the workers they represented.. At that time they felt forced to leave the building to see what the ruckus was about and to seek a solution, but the voting was continued in their absence, and in an unobservable manner. What was found in the trunk of the car, was the torn and removed campaign literature of the independent union. It seems clear, that the tension and incident were fabricated to counter charges of violence against the workers (endangering a pregnant woman), but also to deliberately remove the lawyers from the area of the vote count. As it was, almost as soon as the car incident was over, so was the 'open', yet secret 'vote'. At that point, workers and scabs emerged from the plant and were marched over to the fence to chant .... Get out, get out!... to the workers who already were out standing, demoralized and silent in the mud. After 5 minutes or so of this, like an army controlled, they were marched into 6 school busses, and left the plant grounds. All of this had a very definite feel of being orchestrated and choreographed. Included in this charade of an election on company grounds, was a woman spokesperson for the CROC and company, accusing the international observers (to TV Azteca) of being 'terrorismo de internet' against the company. The feeling was definte, that the workers were valued less than animals, and that it was resented that others would be there in their defense. As observers, what we saw was workers that were forced to declare their vote publicly in front of the plant administrators, without a secret ballot that would provide even a minimal guarantee of protection from victimization. We saw the Mexico of total PRI control at work, even as the new national government proclaims a new day. We saw a vote, and a process of holding a vote, that was hidden away from observation. We saw a local area that was unwillingly to not use company and state backed unions against the independent union organization picked by the workers themselves. And we saw a law enforcement apparatus assisting in creating a climate of terrorism, something that is reminiscent of US union/ company battles in the early '30s, and the Civil Rights struggles in the South of the '60s. In other words, we saw a state of official lawlessness in Rio Bravo at the Duro Bag company. A public vote, as called for by Mexican labor law inherited from the PRI era, was used in coordination with local law enforcement complicity with the company, to violate the rights to public safety of a portion of the citizenry. What also seems clear, is that only the presence of several priests and the international attention to this struggle, provided a buffer to keep even worse from having happened. And this is in fact also, what underlines the importance of this struggle. With attention on the Quebec City meeting in April, where the push to make NAFTA hemispheric will occur, alongside the delicate operation of trying to disarm the Zapatistas, a flare up along the Texas- Mexico Border was the last thing that the powers wanted to get out of hand. The US and Mexican governments are banking that this repression that has already been used in Rio Bravo, will be enough to stifle the continued battle for Worker Rights at Duro, and all along the Border, too. Are they right, or will the struggle continue, despite the injustice that was done to these workers and their families through this fraudulent process of a 'public' vote, in front of the goon squads of the employer, and yet hidden away from the genuine public? What can be done? Tony Abdo _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
