Trade unionists around the world are mobilizing this week, calling on the Mexican government to stop its attack on workers and implement steps to allow for workers to organize independent democratic trade unions of their choosing. In Washington, DC, union members and worker and human rights activists will rally at noon on Thursday, February 23, in front of the Mexican Embassy, located at 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Last year, more than 50,000 union members, students, and human rights activists from some 40 countries participated in the Global Days of Action. For six days, union members came together in an unprecedented show of solidarity. They wrote thousands of letters to the Mexican government, organized more than 50 meetings at Mexican embassies throughout the world, and held massive demonstrations, inside and outside Mexico. Their urgent message: STOP the attack on workers. We demand trade union rights in Mexico, NOW!
The impact of these global actions was felt around the world. On February 24, just weeks after the Global Days of Action launched, political prisoner Juan Linares of the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union of Mexico was released from jail after being unjustly imprisoned for more than two years.
Building on the 2011 actions, independent unions in Mexico, together with their respective global union partners, have come together as a movement of force, challenging retrogressive labor legislation, confronting Mexico’s scandalous “protection contract” system, and exposing corporate and political corruption.
Despite an escalation in action and outcry from unions in Mexico and at theinternational level, workers continue to be denied fundamental rights, independent unions face violent and political attack, and corporate impunity is at an all-time high.
During the week of February 19–25, 2012, in honor of the Pasta de Conchos miners who died in a mine blast on February 19, 2006, members of the international labor movement are again asked to take action.