Mexico’s Calderon: Why you may not see his name up in lights!
October 13, 2009 by Border Explorer
President Filipe Calderon dissolved the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC) late Saturday night (10/10/2009) and fired more than 41,000 union workers. This effectively shut down the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), one of Mexico’s most combative and independent unions.
The administration promised severance pay, with substantial increases for workers who accept a deal within a month. It plans to re-contract a certain number of workers; however, they will be working without union representation.
The Central Light and Power Company provides electricity to more than 25 million customers in Mexico City and surrounding states. Shortly before midnight, Federal Police and army troops occupied 91 of its 103 installations.
Calderon plans to merge LFC with the state-owned Federal Electrical Commission (CFE), the agency that provides power to the rest of Mexico. Such a merger might lead the way toward eventual privatization of the electrical sector. However, the energy sector is constitutionally a state monopoly. Thus, the SME plans to challenge Calderon’s actions in court.
This fight might be bigger than Calderon. He has a long history of anti-union activity, most recently directed against mineworkers, but the SME is a tough opponent. The union has fought hard against privatization of the energy sector in recent years and has a 95 year history of solidarity building. Many organized workers could respond positively if there’s a call for a general strike.
The Calderon administration, aided by networks Televisa and TV Azteca, mounted a campaign in recent months against the SME, claiming LFC was spending nearly twice as much as it was taking in from electricity bills, forcing the federal government to make up the difference. The union presented conflicting data to the Interior Secretary earlier in the week, but apparently the Calderon administration ignored the union’s calculations.
Calderon won’t be seeing his name up in lights anytime soon, if the SME has anything to say about it.
Source: Mexico Solidarity Network: “Mexico News and Analysis,” October 5-11, 2009
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What a douche nozzle. Reagan must be proud.
Dusty´s last blog ..The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. The Liz Cheney edition
Ain’t THAT the truth! You do have a way with words, Dusty!
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What a wonderful thing Presidente Calderon has done for the workers. Well, the workers who will come in and work for half the pay the former union workers made. Oh how fortunate for them!
2 years from now: Hey, how’s come our electric bills are rising, even after you cut the pay in half for the workers?
AMEN, trog69. Amen!
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Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
Sure, Polprav. Would you send a link to your use of the quote to
borderexplorer (at) gmail.com
Thanks very much.
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Watch out, BE. Polprav might be from some masturbating bears cult!
This move, to shut down LyFC goes way back to the 1980’s. Had Obrador “won”, the LyFC would have been shut down immediately, he would not have waited three years to do it.
Keep in mind, monopolies are rampant in Mexico, another example would be Telnor, our phone company run by Carlos Slim, one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Unlike American Unions to a degree at least, Unions in Mexico at best are nepotistic, and do not necessarily insure great benefits except to the ones on the very top. In fact, government employees receive tremendous benefits, housing, health care, food subsidies, many many more.(Yes, the pay is shit) The two unions – those of US and Mexico are completely different, apples and oranges.
This move does not necessarily mean that privatization is on the way, LyFC is already a PRIVATE MONOPOLY and keep in mind, it is a regional operation, not statewide or even nationwide. The largest electric company is CFE, government run. There are no indications that the government is going to “bust” other unions, the teacher’s union for example although they certainly wish that the teacher union here would at least require qualification exams of teachers, which presently it does not.
In addition, LyFC has been for years receiving government subsidies which are more than the government spends on poverty programs. More truisms regarding LyFC is that it is unproductive, inefficient and for as small a number of people it represented, it poured billions into crooked political campaigns, everyone knows this. LyFC had to be WORSE than the breeches in PEMEX pipelines we are constantly seeing. And as we speak, negotiations are being held to compensate the former workers.
One of the largest problems facing Mexico is to produce jobs for her people, she absolutely has to do this. By the elimination of subsidies which appear to have been going into the pockets of the elite few of LyFC, the thinking is to create small industry , and not be so reliant on foreign investors.
It is too bad Obama has not made the same move toward Wall Street, the banks, and corporate polluters.
BTW, Baja imports gas from California.
Maggie Drake´s last blog ..10/15 VIOLENCE TIJUANA COME BACK GRINGA GIRL.NO NEVERMIND STAY IN YOUR CAVE
Just want to point out one more thing, days before the shutdown, Obrador came out and called for an inquiry and investigation into LyFC. Yea. I know, that didn’t get much publicity up your way.
Obrador himself, back when he was rubbing shoulders with the most corrupt politiicans and Presidents of Mexico, when he was infact a PRI member, the PRI was pulling a huge scam, and this went on into the 90’s and into the 2000’s. What they would do is subsidize taxpayer revenues into the LyFC – whose Union BTW – was completely involved in this; then the LyFC would give the money back to the PRI in the form of political contributions to keep the dinosaurs as they are called here, in power.
It is unclear whether Obrador himself was a recipient, but he sure knew about it, and when he was forced into the corner, he had to come clean and do something, the AMLO nowadays is shattered, they certainly don’t want to appear to be as bad as the rest of them. He is no lily white.
The problem the Marxists are having now is that they are refusing to admit there was serious wrongdoing going on, and they are screaming militarization, privitazation ,anything rather than just saying you know, we screwed up and we are just as corrupt as the rest of them.
The propaganda which is coming from the extreme left is just that, propaganda.
They are not telling you that these regional workers let go are in the process of being offered not only a huge settlement, but franchises and new positions including housing. Now, why should comparatively speaking, a handful of workers from the corrupt LyFC and their corrupt union have better privledges than the majority of workers in Mexico? And why should the majority of workers in Mexico be paying subsidies to support a few?
Maggie Drake´s last blog ..10/17 VIOLENCE TIJUANA HALLOWEEN TJ STYLE THE ULTIMATE BOOGIEMAN IS BACK
Good morning, Maggie.
As a retired union man, and one who has worked in many power plants, I take great interest in this story, especially when you so glibly pointed to the union as corrupt. Accordingly, I looked at other websites that are covering this news, and they seem to have the opposite view of what’s happening. Here is one instance:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/10/military-and-federal-police-kidnap-electricians-put-them-work
If the union members are getting such a sweet deal, why are they protesting so vehemently against accepting the government’s severance offer, including 22,000 retirees? Are all these workers corrupt as well?
Maggie, you’re providing a wealth of info on the unions in Mexico and how they operate. Most of my info comes from what you’d probably consider “leftist” sources. [Do you track the Mexican Solidarity Network? If you do, I wonder how you regard them.] Thus, your contributions add a helpful complementarity. I agree: Mexico lacks employment! Privitizaion is not a foregone conclusion, but does loom as more likely now.
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Trog, now I finally understand your avatar. Yes, I’m slow.
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