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Union Locals in Mexico: the ‘New Unionism’ in Steel and Automobiles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Ian Roxborough  and
Ilan Bizberg
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Extract

For more than 40 years Mexico has experienced sustained and rapid economic growth. Until the recession of 1976–7, GNP grew at an annual rate of 6%. By 1977 there were some four and a half million industrial workers in Mexico and the growth of modern industry was proceeding apace. The Mexican economy began to experience serious problems in the second half of the 1970s and, by 1982, despite (or because of) an attempt to use oil exports to promote recovery, had plunged into a severe crisis. Together with the development of this economic crisis, the 1970s also witnessed the emergence of a sustained increase in industrial conflict and in working-class militancy in general. This upsurge of militancy involved the formation of ‘independent’ unions not affiliated with the official party, and the development of militant factions within some of the larger national industrial unions, affiliated with the official party. It has been suggested that the development of union militancy has been connected with the growth of modern industrial establishments. While this claim cannot be accepted without serious reservations, it is certainly the case that there have been upsurges of union militancy in modern industrial sectors. This article will examine the nature of union militancy in two industries which can be regarded as modern in the context of Mexican development: steel production and automobile assembly.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , May 1983 , pp. 117 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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References

1 NAFINSA, La Economia Mexicana en Cifras (Mexico, 1978).Google Scholar

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6 In addition to the SNTMMSRM, there are five other major industrial unions in Mexico: railways, petroleum, teachers, telephones, and electricity. All these unions have a single employer - the state - and a single contract, in contrast with the many contracts negotiated by the miners' union.

7 On local level elections in the SNTMMSRM, see Thompson, M. and Roxborough, I., ‘Union Elections and Democracy in Mexico’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 20, no. 2 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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12 There are two major private sector steel companies, HYLSA (with plants in Monterrey and Puebla) and TAMSA (with a plant in Veracruz), that are not organized by the Miners' Union. Both have tranquil industrial relations.

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14 The leader of section 288 was a candidate for the PRI for a local government post. He lost to the right-wing Parlido de Acción Nacional. The candidate for the PAN, interestingly, was a worker from section 147 and is now the municipal president. Section 147 seems to be split between a pro-PAN and a pro-PRI faction. Both factions are united in their rejection of the left-wing PSUM.

15 Alafita, L., ‘Sindicalismo Independiente en Mexico’, in CEHSMO, Memoria del Primer Coloquio Regional de Historia Obrera (Mexico, CEHSMO, 1977).Google Scholar

16 The average number of strikes per year in Mexico between 1960 and 1976 was 347.

17 Why VAM should be an exception to the pattern is not entirely clear. It may perhaps be due to the fact that VAM is a fairly small operation, with government participation, and a reputation for paternalistic managerial strategies.

18 Interview with Secretary-General of VW union, Puebla, April 1982.

19 Interview, Mexico, 25 Aug. 1978.

20 For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see Thompson and Roxborough, op cit.

21 The Nissan union in Cuernavaca has ties with other militant unions in the same region, but no links with unions in Toluca, where the other Nissan plant is located. The same is true for the GM unions.

22 Several authors have argued that, in contrast to unions in developed countries, trade unions in Latin America generally orientate their actions toward the state. Payne, J., Labor and Politics in Peru (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1965)Google Scholar and Rodrigues, L. Martins, Trabalbadores, Sindicatos e Industrializacāo (Sāo Paulo, Brasiliense, 1974), are clear statements of this position.Google Scholar Cf. also Roxborough, I., ‘The Analysis of Labour Movements in Latin America’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, vol. 1, no. 1 (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Trejo, R., Tres Huelgas Telefonistas (Mexico, Uno Maás Uno, 1980).Google Scholar Other cases of union insurgency are dealt with in Loyo, A., El movimiento magisterial de 1958 en Mexico (ERA, 1979);Google Scholar Alonso, op. cit.; Stevens, op cit.; Pérez, R., ‘El Charrismo Sindical en la Década de los Setenta: El Sindicato Petrolero’, in Prieto, A. M. et al. , Hisioria Crónicas de la Clase Obrera en México (Mexico, Escuela Nacional de Antropologla e Historia, 1981);Google ScholarRivera, J., ‘Corrupción y Disidencia Obrera en Pemex 1918–81’, Iztapalapa, no. 5 (1982).Google Scholar

24 A similar situation appears to have been the case with the merger of two electricity generation unions into a single union (SUTERM). In the merger, the local sections which had been democractically run and which belonged to the Tendencia Democrática were purged and forced to make peace with the dominant offcial leadership. Gómez, S., Insurgencia Democracia en los Sindicatos Electrscistas (Mexico, El Colegio de Mexico, 1980).Google Scholar