MEXICO: Laid-off Mexican workers protest utility shutdown

Record ID: 303439

  • Title: MEXICO: Laid-off Mexican workers protest utility shutdown
  • Date: 17th October 2009
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (OCTOBER 15, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEXICAN WORKERS MARCHING DOWN STREET PROTESTERS HOLDING UP BANNERS THAT READ: "Calderon, you took away our jobs, you took away our lives!" and "Today the SME (union) tomorrow your family." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS IN STREET PROTESTERS PUNCHING AIR WITH FISTS PROTESTERS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MARTIN ESPARZA, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE MEXICAN ELECTRICIANS UNION, OR SME, SAYING: "On Saturday night, they surprised us by getting all the workers out practically with punches and stripping the workers from their jobs. But we're going to win. They have to pay up every last cent of the frozen salaries. Our work force exists and they support the union. We are going to hold out with a peaceful civil resistance movement to defend our rights and what belongs to us." VARIOUS OF WORKERS MARCHING BANNER THAT READS: "Calderon, how much do you and your rats earn every fortnight?" VARIOUS OF WORKERS PROTESTING UNION BANNER WORKERS MARCHING MEXICAN FLAG IN MAIN ZOCALO SQUARE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN MAIN ZOCALO SQUARE
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Employment
  • Reuters ID: LVA62X77YT52EG90BQDT1IKF35WK
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of Mexican workers protested the closure of a money-losing power utility on Thursday (October 15) in a challenge to President Felipe Calderon's plans to clean up the bloated public sector.
    Holding hand-scrawled placards damning Calderon, union members, leftists and students marched along Mexico City's main Reforma Avenue to Zocalo Square in support of the laid-off power workers.
    Protesters held banners that read: "Calderon, you took away our jobs, you took away our lives!" and "Today the SME (union) tomorrow your family."
    The government shut down the state-run power company Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC) last weekend in a surprise move hailed by investors as a sign of fiscal discipline and a willingness to confront entrenched public sector interests.
    But union members have vowed to resist Calderon.
    "On Saturday night, they surprised us by getting all the workers out practically with punches and stripping the workers from their jobs. But we're going to win. They have to pay up every last cent of the frozen salaries. Our work force exists and they support the union. We are going to hold out with a peaceful civil resistance movement to defend our rights and what belongs to us," said Martin Esparza, Secretary General of the Mexican Electricians Union, Or SME surrounded by banners reading "Calderon, how much do you and your rats earn every fortnight?"
    Police put the turnout at 35,000 people but protesters were still arriving in the Zocalo on Thursday evening.
    The union representing 40,000 LFC workers has called on its members to reject severance pay offered by the government. Small groups of protesters, some wearing devil masks and red shirts, gathered outside LFC offices and shouted at former employees waiting for their severance pay.
    Calderon has vowed to shake up the public sector, including state oil monopoly Pemex, and some investors hope the conservative leader will now take on oil and teacher unions that are seen as corrupt and inefficient.
    But political analysts say a wider clean-up is unlikely because angering the powerful unions would likely hurt Calderon's party in 2012 presidential elections.
    Mexico is mired in its worst recession since the 1930s and a drug war that has killed more than 14,000 people since Calderon took office in late 2006.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register