The weekly newsletter of the México Solidarity Project

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September 28, 2022/ This week’s issue/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

Happy Endings: What Happens the Day After?

How many movies have we seen that end with heroes riding off into the sunset or lovers separated by misfortunes reunited at last? We shed tears of happiness and relief — or at least I do! But then what happens?

Last year, we watched and supported the uphill efforts of an upstart dissident group of auto workers at the giant General Motors plant in the central Mexican city of Silao. These workers had become fed up with the collusion between their existing so-called “union” and their US-based rapacious employer, and they had generated a rank-and-file movement to gain their own independent voice.

These workers faced threats, bribes, and firings, but they kept on — and took full advantage of provisions protecting their rights that appear in new Mexican labor laws and the new USMCA trade agreement between the US, México, and Canada. By the beginning of this past summer, the GM Silao workers had thrown out the plant’s previous sweetheart “charro” contract, voted in their own new union, and won their best contract ever.

Tears of happiness and relief. But what comes next?

This baby of an independent union, as described in our interview this week with activist organizer Israel Cervantes, had taken some spectacular first steps. How does the union now grow? How do workers at GM Silao slog on through the many new challenges they face and reach out to workers in other auto plants? None of that will be easy. The old corrupt CTM national union still has its claws into most workers in México, and these workers lack experience in building and running democratic unions. The old culture runs deep.

Those of us cheering these auto workers on — and offering whatever help we can — have found ourselves back on the edge of our seats. Could another “happily ever after” moment be on its way? This week’s issue explores México’s auto worker future. 

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SINTTIA Growing Democratic Unionism in Big Auto 

Workers within General Motors started Generando Movimiento — “Generating Movement,” a take-off on the initials “GM” — several years ago, and that initial organizing proved to be the key to SINTTIA’s victory. Generando Movimiento is still organizing within the plant, even though SINTTIA has become our official union now. Generando Movimiento remains the foundation, an important structure central to maintaining worker control. Generando Movimiento is focusing now on supporting SINTTIA and the Casa Obrera, our local center in Silao for worker meetings and trainings.

SINTTIA wants to grow to become a nationwide union. How is that going?

I’m now in charge of developing the organizing in other plants that can lead to SINTTIA’s expansion. I’ve been talking with workers at two German plants, Frankishe and Draxtor. But we face a problem. 

CTM looms like a zombie, killed but not dead! Is that gang trying to get back control?

Yes. CTM has stepped up attacks on us. Within GM Silao, they’re acting like Trump, refusing to accept that they lost the election. GM did negotiate with SINTTIA — they had to, of course, after the election — but GM would love to have CTM, their old buddies in corruption, to partner with again. GM gives CTM free rein within the Silao plant. The conservative press in Guanajuato state also prints the CTM lies.

In the two new plants we’re organizing, we’ve seen a lot of retaliation against workers who support us. And me personally and Casa Obrera have been attacked as well, with Casa Obrera getting labeled “a criminal organization.” CTM has various social media sites, and these sites keep up a steady stream of venom against us.

Last spring, during the SINTTIA election campaign that we won, our general secretary, Alejandra Morales, found herself personally threatened. We still remember that. We see CTM as capable of using physical violence to intimidate its opponents. But I’m not worried. I’m too high-profile a target. 

SINTTIA workers by Willebaldo Gómez Zupa

Since SINTTIA’s victory, several other independent unions in the Mexican auto sector have won recognition, partly as a result of the US filing suits under the USMCA. SNITIS, Los Mineros, and just a couple weeks ago, La Liga, are now representing auto workers. Are all of these new unions working together?

No. Building a federation where each union has autonomy could be a good thing, but this isn’t happening yet.

Do workers think that election victories for Morena would help independent unionism make more gains?

Morena has shown a history of negligence in responding to the needs of workers. Too many activists have been fired by employers for exercising their rights and remain still out of work. I’m one example of that. It’s still dangerous to challenge the old labor relations.

We must remember, of course, that Morena’s labor department has to spend a lot of time dealing with all the CTM unions that still hold the big majority of the labor contracts in Mexican workplaces.

Do you see a danger that the new unions could fall into old habits and become corrupt?

The risk always exists that people who come forward as leaders are just looking ahead for personal gain. I try to set a personal example as a founder of SINTTIA: I want to show that what’s important is building a movement of workers and worker power. I’m one of the many. SINTTIA started with nothing, and we won by building a solid base among the workers. From nothing, we made something big! 

That US-México Border Wall: It’s Still Rising!

As the borderlands coordinator for the Wildlands Network, Traphagen had visited the area many times before. It was among the sites he examined in an extensive report published in July documenting the environmental impact of the border wall expansion under President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden paused the construction shortly after his inauguration.

Traphagen spotted a new staging area and water holding tanks under construction. Fixed to the wall were new signs citing an Arizona trespassing law. A security guard at the scene told him construction was resuming. Later, a Border Patrol agent ordered him to leave the area.

“It’s feeling like it felt during border wall construction with Trump,” Traphagen told the Intercept. “I hadn’t felt that on the border in a year and a half, and now it’s like, oh, shit, here we go again.”

Six days after Traphagen’s visit, US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that work on the border wall that began under Trump is revving back up under Biden. The wall’s environmental harms have been particularly acute in southern Arizona, where CBP used explosives to blast through large swaths of protected land — including sacred Native American burial grounds and one-of-a-kind wildlife habitats.

When asked if CBP envisioned a day when the barriers might be removed, Shelly Barnes, the environmental planning lead for the Border Patrol’s infrastructure portfolio, stated, “there are no current plans to remove sections of the barrier.” The wall will remain a permanent fixture of the Southwest for generations to come.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,

on life and struggles on both sides of the US-México border

Connor Echols, Diplomacy Watch: Is AMLO’s peace plan really that ridiculous? Responsible Statecraft. México’s proposal to end the war in Ukraine deserves more serious engagement than it’s received so far.

México en la ONU: exhorto de paz, La Jornada. Sectores muy comprometidos con la agenda hegemónica de Washington y sus aliados han tratado de instalar la especie de que el gobierno mexicano es una suerte de vocero del Kremlin, pero México ha calificado la invasión a Ucrania de “flagrante quebrantamiento a lo establecido en la Carta de Naciones Unidas que ha violentado la paz y la seguridad internacionales”.

Maya Averbuch, AMLO Extends Anti-Inflation Pact That Freezes Some Food Prices, Bloomberg News. Companies from Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB to cornflour producer Maseca have agreed to freeze prices of key goods at a specific level, extending a pact to curb food inflation.

Obed Rosas, Un Fiscal empoderado, un Gobernador callado, violencia desbocada, molotov prendida, sinembargo. Guanajuato, estado que ha sido gobernado durante tres décadas por el PAN, es una de las seis entidades que concentran la mitad de todos los homicidios del país. Pese a ello, su Fiscal Carlos Zamarripa ha permanecido en el cargo desde 2009.

Pemex international sales unit to disappear, says Mexican president, Bnamericas. The international sales division of the Mexican national oil company Pemex will be eliminated, part of the country’s planned pivot away from exporting crude towards refining.

Rubén Zermeño, Estela de saqueo y corrupción en Durango por Rosas Aispuro, Indigo. La administración del exgobernador de Durango, el panista José Rosas Aispuro, estuvo marcada por el desvío de millones de pesos y recursos que debieron de ser asignados a los más necesitados de la entidad durante la crisis sanitaria provocada por el COVID-19.

Murphy Woodhouse, After legislative setback, AMLO proposes national consultation on military’s role, Fronteras. México’s president is proposing a national referendum on the role of the country’s military in public security.

Alfredo Maza, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo se alista a quedar en prisión domiciliaria después de 33 años en la cárcel, Animal Politic. El narcotraficante recibirá el beneficio legal debido a su edad — 76 años — y a su deteriorado estado de salud.

Dave Graham and Diego Oré, México City mayor eyes history in bid to be first female president, Reuters. The trained physicist, a loyal AMLO ally, is vying to become the country's first female president is hoping that her environmental credentials and success curbing crime will help set her apart in the 2024 race.

Federico Arreola, Sheinbaum explica a Jorge Ramos la esencia de la violencia… AMLO solo falló una vez, sdpnoticias. Ramos ha sido más listo que los y las periodistas de México, que se quejan mucho de AMLO pero no han aprovechado la apertura de las mañaneras para debatir con el presidente.

The México Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice who see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of México as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and México’s national sovereignty. 

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Bill Gallegos, Sam Pizzigati, Courtney Childs, Victoria Hamlin, Agatha Hinman, Steven Hollis. To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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