The weekly newsletter of the México Solidarity Project

Online at mexicosolidarityproject.org

August 16, 2023/ This week's issue/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

Dos Amigos?  The Canada/México Connection

Canada is separated from México not by a border but by a huge country, so of course their relationship differs from that of the US and México. But how different?

In terms of population, the US has nearly three times as many people as México (334 million to 128 million), and México has three times as many people as Canada (39 million). In a fairer world, the US GDP would be three times as much as México’s, and México’s would be three times as much as Canada’s. In reality, the US GDP is nearly 20 times more than México’s, and tiny Canada’s GDP is over 1.5 times more.

Why are the dos amigos doing so much better than the third amigo? The US and Canada, both beneficiaries of their British parent, were accepted into the Western European club of economically over-developed countries. México, on the other hand, was actively “underdeveloped” by that first world club, its natural and human resource wealth extracted at the end of a gun barrel.

Canada was not originally involved in the exploitation of México. The free trade agreement between the three largest countries in the Northern hemisphere —  the US, México and Canada — has changed that, particularly in the mining sector.

But as Paul Bocking tells us this week, Canadian and Mexican labor activists were “amigos” for decades before NAFTA was implemented. And at the insistence of US unions, USMCA, or CUSMA as it’s known in Canada, contains much-needed protections for Mexican labor organizing. While there may be “dos amigos” when it comes to the US and Canadian corporate-led governments, Paul believes that workers of all three countries can — and must — become “tres amigos,” the best of friends.

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Canada and its Unions:  Relations with México 

In the US, we often ignore the “C” in the USMCA! In Canada, it’s called the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement or CUSMA. Did NAFTA and CUSMA change Canada’s relationship to México?

Canada historically didn’t have much trade with México, compared to the US. They had guest worker programs, including the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. These began in the '70s and have grown in recent decades.

owned by Canadian companies such as Equinox Gold, Alamos Gold, Acapulco Gold, First Majestic Silver, Kootenay Silver, and more. These extractive and polluting operations have generated community, environmental, and labor resistance.

The US has used the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in CUSMA to investigate and demand remediation from companies that interfere with their workers’ right to organize independent unions. What about Canada?

México-Canada has its own parallel RRLM. For example, Canadian auto union Unifor and SINTTIA, the independent Mexican union, recently filed a complaint with the Canadian government against Frankische, an auto parts company SINTTIA is organizing. Frankische did come to the table and rehired workers fired for union activity. SINTTIA won the union election at Frankische and began bargaining for a new collective agreement. This has been the only complaint filed with the Canadian government so far, but we could see more.

The Canadian government also allocated $20 million to support Mexican labor reform (the US is spending $80 million). The Mexico Solidarity Project, which I co-coordinate with my colleague in México, Rita Robles, is one of the initiatives they now fund. The project is steered by the Canadian Labour Congress, Centre International de Solidarité Ouvrière of Quebec, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the Humanity Fund of the United Steelworkers.

What has been the relationship of Canadian unions to labor issues in Mexico?

Since the 70’s, The Authentic Labor Front — Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) — has strong relations with major unions in Quebec. For decades, the FAT organized against the corrupt protection unions collaborating with employers and the PRI government to suppress workers’ demands. The FAT always understood the need for international worker solidarity. In the lead-up to the negotiation of NAFTA, it built ties with the United Steelworkers in both the US and Canada, and with the predecessors of the Canadian auto union Unifor. 

In the run-up to NAFTA, education activists feared the trade agreement would privatize education in all three countries. As a result, the Trinational Coalition in Defense of Public Education was formed, mainly organized by the teachers unions in Quebec and British Columbia; Mexican teachers in the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), the radical wing of the national teachers union — Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE); and Los Angeles and Chicago teacher unionists.

Mexican and Canadian Trinational leaders Mariluz Arriaga and Larry Kuhn at their 2017 convention/

photo: Mariluz Arriaga

The Trinational has opposed neoliberal reforms for 30 years. In all three countries, we have fought the rise of standardized testing to discipline and rank schools and teachers.

What got you interested in Mexican labor?

As an undergrad, I studied abroad at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México (UNAM). I met members of the FAT and couldn’t get enough of their story. I wanted to know everything about their history and their politics. I was an annoying student, hanging around their office, and pestering them with questions!

What organizations are involved in the Project you’re coordinating?

 Canadian government decided to channel funds directly to Mexican unions and workers’ organizations, rather than going through the Labor Department. Four organizations submitted detailed proposals.

The FAT runs a union training school, including courses on union organizing and collective bargaining. The Border Workers’ Committee — Comité Fronterizo de Obreras, CFO) — delivers labor rights information in homes, bus stops, and small workshops; they go through their grassroots network of women in maquiladoras.

CFO meeting in with workers in Pedra Negras, Coahuilo

Where does US labor fit into your strategy? What’s needed for a hemispheric worker solidarity movement?

We need to see more organic linkages between the three countries, working sectorally. Canadian and US unions must become aware of the Mexican labor movement, and include international solidarity in their organizing strategies.

We tend to be so wrapped up in the day-to-day that international solidarity is often seen as a “frill.” There is so much potential in México right now — it’s a critical political moment — the most important in nearly a century — to support México’s independent labour movement and build worker power. We don’t have time to waste. Mexican workers don’t need our charity or our pity: they need solidarity now!

Paul standing with St. Gobain glass workers in Morelos/

photo: Paul Bocking

Carlomagno Pedro Martinez: Storyteller in Ceramics

Like his family before him, he uses the local clay of San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, a Zapotec town, which has a ceramics tradition that dates back to the pre-Hispanic period. The barro negro process produces polished black pottery.  It is dramatic and soulful. 

His story telling has a touch of humor, a sense of mystery, national pride, and love for his people added in.

An artist truly steeped in the traditions of his craft can work outside the box to create new things, even within traditional guidelines. Here, the familiar characters of fiestas and holidays work well with the heros of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Historic symbols and icons play their parts, as do family, friends, neighbors and pets. Old legends and myths are brought into focus along with celebrities of our day.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-México border.

Mexico’s poverty rate declines from 50% to 43.5% in four years as remittances almost double, AP. MSP readers are savvy enough to know that universal social programs instituted by President AMLO are responsible for the improvement of livelihoods, and not simple remittances, which only account for slightly over 2% of household income.

Montserrat Antúnez Estrada, Coneval: 8.9 millones de mexicanos salieron del umbral de la pobreza de 2020 a 2022 sin embargo. 8,9 millones de personas salieron de la pobreza entre 2020 y 2022. En dos años, la tasa nacional de pobreza de México cayó del 43,9 % al 36,3 %

Joel Rose, Who is sneaking fentanyl across the southern border? Hint: it's not the migrants NPR. Physician, heal thyself!

DeSantis, dispuesto a usar "cualquier fuerza" contra los cárteles mexicanos La Jornada. El gobernador de Florida y torturador de la Bahía de Guantánamo, Ron DeSantis, quiere atacar a México con drones.

Sandra Sanchez, ‘Death trap’ marine barrier draws criticisms after body found in Texas buoys Border Report.  “You are planning for people to die in the river. You should be accountable to somebody,” said El Paso labor activist Guillermo Glenn.

Arturo Landeros, Caracoles zapatistas: 20 años sí son mucho, La Jornada. El nacimiento de los caracoles es una de las acciones más luminosas de transformación social realizadas desde el sureste mexicano.

Mexico won’t join BRICS, president AMLO says, La Prensa Latina. México may not be as far from God these days, but it’s still close to the USA. “For reasons of proximity, geopolitics, we will continue strengthening the alliance with North America and the whole of the Americas,” AMLO said.

Alonso Posada, Sueñan los conservadores, Sentido Común. Proyecto de USAID y aparente candidato de la oposición Gálvez entusiasma a algunos intelectuales porque les hace soñar que son progresistas.

Foreign Minister Bárcena discusses migration, security on US visit, Mexico News Daily. Alicia Bárcena met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, among other United States officials.

Jasminia DP, Sin mencionar a la señora ‘X’ ; AMLO criticó que quiera implementar estrategia fallida de Calderón Sin Línea. Más de cien mil muertos, familias destrozadas y un fiscal general corrupto en una cárcel estadounidense: la candidata opositora Xóchitl Gálvez quiere devolver a México a los sangrientos días de la fallida guerra contra las drogas de Calderón.43

The Mexico 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, Courtney Childs, Victoria Hamlin, Agatha Hinman, Peter Shapiro. To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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