USW union members protesting at Mexican Consulate on South Ashland
CHICAGO, Feb. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A noisy protest with banners and signs carried by Steelworkers from Illinois and Indiana is gathering at the Mexican Consulate (204 South Ashland Ave.) Saturday, Feb. 19 at 10:30 am (CST), calling for trade union rights in Mexico in support of an independent steel and miners union known as "Los Mineros."
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080131/DC12982LOGO)
According to Jim Robinson, Director of District 7 for the United Steelworkers (USW), similar actions are occurring at major cities across the U.S. and in at least 30 countries around the world. "Saturday coincides with the fifth anniversary of the deaths of 65 coal miners at the Pasta de Conches mine disaster in Mexico on Feb. 19, 2006," he said.
"Bereaved families have not received proper compensation and the miners' bodies remain buried, while violent and illegal attacks perpetrated by the Mexican government against Los Mineros continue," declared Robinson. The USW director has made frequent trips to Mexico in support of the miners' families.
The USW members will be arriving at the Mexican Consulate in buses to call on government officials for trade union rights in Mexico. The international trade union movement began a week of action by meeting with the Mexican Ambassador to the United Nations and holding a rally in Geneva, Switzerland this past Monday. Earlier this week, the AFL-CIO held a protest at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC.
Since the mine explosion at Pasta de Conches, about 1,200 copper miners of Los Mineros have been on strike for safety issues since July 2007 against Grupo Mexico in Northern Mexico's Cananea. The striking members of Los Mineros have called for a new labor agreement, but have faced systematic, frequently violent and escalating violations of worker and trade union rights by the Mexican government.
"The political persecution of the Mexican Miners' Unions and others like it must stop," Robinson said.
WHAT: Protest Demonstration at Chicago's Mexican Consulate Office
WHERE: 204 South Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60607
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011, 10:30 am
WHY: Delivery of letter calling on the Mexican government to stop persecution of independent unions.
For more information: www.usw.org/.
Contact: Sal Aguilar, 219-886-2596 (O); 219.689.3194 (C); [email protected]
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
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