News From USW: AFL-CIO Condemns Mexican Government's Suppression of Labor; Pledges Strong Support to Mexican Miners and its President.

LAS VEGAS -- News From USW: The AFL-CIO passed a resolution today strongly condemning the attacks by the government of Mexican President Calderon on the Mexican Miners Union, its democratically elected president Napoleon Gomez Urrutia and the country's independent labor movement.

Mr. Gomez, president of Mexico's National Miners, Metallurgical and Steelworkers Union, known as Los Mineros, was illegally ousted from office by the Mexican government in 2005, in violation of the union's constitution and without filing court charges against him for any alleged violation of law.

The AFL-CIO claims that the evidence is overwhelming that the Government of Mexico has interfered in the internal affairs of a free trade union by forcibly removing Gomez as head of Los Mineros, freezing the union's assets and even freezing Mr. Gomez's personal assets - actions taken without following any established legal procedures whatsoever.

Deeply concerned about security, Mr. Gomez and his family have been living in exile ever since, first in the U.S. and subsequently in Canada, with support from the United Steelworkers.

"The Government's actions can only be viewed as an attempt to stifle the voice of Mexican workers and to further its efforts to degrade and weaken Mexico's labor laws," said USW International president Leo W. Gerard.

Under Napoleon Gomez's leadership, Los Mineros opposed so-called labor "reforms" pushed by the Administration of former Mexican president Vicente Fox. Gomez and union members led the fight to defeat such reactionary steps as eliminating the right to strike, exonerating company owners of responsibility for firing employees, and imposing flexibility in working hours that would have promoted more temporary work.

His successful leadership in defense of workers' rights won Mr. Gomez the enduring enmity of the Fox administration and its corporate allies. The antagonism was badly exacerbated when a mine disaster in which 65 miners Mr. Gomez represented were killed at Pasta de Concha, a mine owned by Grupo Mexico. When the Mexican government decided to seal the mine and end recovery efforts after only six days, his members went out on strike in protest. Gomez accused the company of criminal homicide, the Mexican government of negligence and called for a federal investigation and removal of the Minister of Labor.

Gomez and Los Mineros had earlier enraged Grupo Mexico in 2003, when they conducted protests in Mexico City to support striking United Steelworker members at the Asarco copper mines in the United States, which are owned by Grupo Mexico.

Los Mineros and the United Steelworkers subsequently signed a strategic alliance in which they committed to work together in challenging the renegade behavior of corporations in which both unions represented workers.

"The reactionary measures of the Mexican government are unquestionably intended to undermine the living standards of Mexican workers and undercut the bargaining leverage of American workers," said Gerard. "The resolution today encourages all affiliates of the AFL-CIO to condemn the undemocratic actions of the Mexican government and to call on the U.S. government to strongly encourage that the President Calderon restores Napoleon Gomez to his rightful position as president of Los Mineros."