News From USW: Steelworkers Condemn Grupo Mexico for Bankrupting Asarco; Union Will Continue Struggle for Worker Justice.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today accused Grupo Mexico of deliberately bankrupting its U.S. copper unit Asarco in an attempt to escape its obligations to workers and communities. The Union stated that Grupo Mexico's asset stripping and poor management of Asarco set the stage for the bankruptcy filing. The Union also said that it will continue its campaign for justice at Grupo Mexico.

"It's no secret what's happening here," said USW District 12 Director Terry Bonds. "The robber barons running Grupo Mexico set the stage for this by stripping Asarco of its profitable Peruvian assets in 2003. They believe that it will be cheaper to bankrupt Asarco than it would be to meet Asarco's tremendous environmental, asbestos and retiree obligations."

"Grupo Mexico's failure to invest in maintaining its Asarco operations while copper prices were low is the sole reason Asarco is not able to reap the full rewards of the ongoing copper boom," said USW Sub-District Director Manuel Armenta. "It's a shame that Grupo Mexico isn't as good at managing companies as it is at scheming to harm workers and communities."

USW also blamed Grupo Mexico for deliberately provoking and prolonging the strike of about 1,500 Steelworkers at its Asarco operations in Arizona and Texas.

"Grupo Mexico has never taken Asarco negotiations seriously nor made an honest attempt to reach a fair and equitable labor agreement," said Bonds. "For over a year they committed unlawful bargaining violations and presented insulting offers that they knew would not be accepted by our members."

"Then after claiming that the strike they provoked was crippling them, Asarco cancelled negotiations scheduled for August 2. It appears that this was the final stage in Grupo Mexico's drive to bankrupt Asarco."

"Numerous communities, many of them predominantly Latino, are suffering the consequences of Asarco's century-long pollution binge," said Armenta. "Rather than cleaning up its mess, Grupo Mexico is attempting to exploit U.S. bankruptcy law in order to shift the cost of cleanup to U.S. taxpayers."

"Grupo Mexico would be wise to bargain a fair and equitable agreement so it can concentrate on getting itself out of bankruptcy," said Bonds. "You can be sure that we will do anything and everything possible to protect our members during this difficult time. If Grupo Mexico thinks that filing for bankruptcy will cause us to back off in our campaign for justice at Asarco, it's dead wrong."