Call for action against assault on Johnson Controls organizers in Mexico

MEXICO: As previously reported, two former workers from Johnson Controls International in Puebla, Mexico who are seeking to establish a representative union at the company were assaulted on April 28.

The Johnson Controls management and the "ghost union" CROM, that controls the protection contract in the Puebla plant,  have found out that workers have taken steps to affiliate to Los Mineros (National Union of Mine & Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic-SNTMMSRM), an independent IMF affiliate in Mexico. The workers who are part of a Workers’ Coalition and several activists supporting their struggle are now being physically attacked, harassed, threatened and intimidated by the CROM union.

IMF joined with its affiliates Canadian Autoworkers, United Autoworkers and United Steel Workers, and USLeap, ProDESC and the Maquila Solidarity Network in a letter to the Mexican government and is encouraging affiliates to take similar action here.

IMF calls on its affiliates to write to the Mexican government demanding it:

• Take immediate action to ensure the security of Enrique Morales and Coral Juarez, relatives and close friends, as well as of the members of CAT
• Investigate the actions of CROM and prosecute illegal acts
• Ensure the fundamental human rights of the workers are respected
• Properly implement ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize.

The situation at Johnson Controls is featured in the latest issue of Metal World, out now. As is the case at Johnson Controls, protection contracts are routinely used in Mexico in violation of workers’ rights. Like many others, the workers here are faced with intimidation and violence as they try to form a union that genuinely represents them.

Focusing on trade union rights, this issue of Metal World also includes a feature on the repression of trade union rights in Russia. Go here to see the latest issue of Metal World.