Mexico

No Sweat actions

London Chinatown New Year celebrations Valentine's Day - Solidarity with Mexican workers Dayschool Leicester London Chinatown New Year celebrations Petitioning for the Liaoyang Two Sunday 25 January, 10.30-12 noon Corner Shaftesbury Avenue and Gerrard Place Valentine's Day Solidarity with Mexican workers Petitioning and dressing up... Lewisham Clock Tower, Lewisham High Street 11am-1pm Dayschool Leicester Saturday 21 February, 12 - 5.30pm Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate, Leicester Including: Simon Jones Campaign video, Harvard University sit-in Video Discussions on Minimum wage campaign...

See 'Bread and Roses', raise money for Mexican unions

6.30-9pm, Thursday 22 January, The Other Cinema, 11 Rupert Street, London W1 To raise money for union organisers at the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador in Mexico, No Sweat has organised a special screening of Ken Loach's film Bread and Roses (2000) on 22 January at the Other Cinema in London. Ken Loach will be present for a Q&A session after the film. The film is set among Mexican immigrants to Los Angeles, who work for low pay and in poor conditions…and decide to do something about it! The heroine Maya gets involved with 'Justice for Janitors', a campaign organised by the Service Employees...

Mexican maquilas - Daily grind of globalisation

Alice Nutter , from the rock band Chumbawamba was part of a No Sweat delegation that visited Puebla, Mexico, in September. No Sweat met independent trade union activists who are attempting to unionise the sweatshop factories in the region. This is part of Alice's report. "Carlton Heston? Charlton Heston?" said Gaby "No entiendo Charlton Heston." "Course you know Charlton Heston!" I screamed back "Film star! Bastard! Guns everywhere!" "Non, no entiendo Charlton Heston!" Introducing the Rizla game to Mexican friends - where you have to guess whose name is on the cigarette paper stuck to your...

31 Oct/ 4 Nov: support Mexican workers!

No Sweat has organised two activites to support the struggle for an independent union and oppose the victimisations that have taken place at Tarrant, Puebla (Mexico) in recent weeks. Protest at the Mexican embassy, 42 Hertford Street, London W1 (Hyde Park Corner tube), 6.00 - 7.30 Friday 31 October. No Sweat meeting to report back on the recent NS delegation which visited the maquila trade unionists at KukDong, Tarrant and Matamoros 7.00 - 8.30, Tuesday 4 November at the Dogstar, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. We'll also discussing No Sweat campaigning and organisation in the London area. Come...

Mexican garment workers fight ¡La Lucha Sigue!

By the Puebla Workers' Support Centre (CAT) In clear breach of both Mexican and international law, the Puebla Labour Board has refused to recognise the Tarrant garment workers' independent trade union (SUITTAR). Over the next few weeks they will rule on the reinstatement of 22 illegally sacked workers at the plant. In defiance of the denial of its petition for legal recognition SUITTAR activists gathered on 10 October before the office of Puebla Governor, Melqu"ades Morales Flores, to angrily protest the decision and insist that their illegally fired co-workers be reinstalled as soon as...

Sacked for organising a union-support the Tarrant workers!

This summer, workers at Tarrant Garments, a maquila just inside Oaxcala State, decided to organise a union. The bosses responded by sacking the ringleaders, people like Alejandro, a young worker in his early twenties, with two children and a young wife to support, with no wage and no benefits, blacklisted from working in another maquila. 80% of the workers support the independent union, but on striking they were told they already had union. The State Labour Board told us it was the CTM, and even gave a name for the general secretary. Not only had the workers never heard of him, it was a...

Dignity and militancy: a visit to the Mexican maquilas

By Mick Duncan The Mexican state of Puebla is sometimes called the jeans capital of America. If you live in the USA, the chances are the jeans you wear were made in Puebla. They will have been made in a maquila, an assembly factory in the free trade zone. At the end of September, Alice from Chumbawamba, Sarah and Paula, organisers from the GPMU print union, Katrina from Lambeth Unison, Pennie from Indymedia and I spent a week in Mexico with the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT, Workers' Support Centre) visiting workers involved in independent union struggles there. Over a million people work...

No Sweat goes to Mexico

By Mick Duncan A No Sweat study trip set off on Saturday 20 September for a 10 day visit to independent union activists in Puebla, central Mexico. No Sweat will discuss with maquila workers, and activists at the massive VW car plant - site of the oldest independent trade union in Mexico. We will meet representatives of the Zapatistas and join the CAT workers' organising centre on their educational theatre tour. On our return we will be producing written articles, digital radio, photographs and video reports. Get in touch if you want a speaker at your union or college, or an article for your...

Workers of the world: ROUND UP

South Korea: a summer of discontent Free Brazilian landless workers! General strike in Chile Support locked-out Indonesian workers Protests at WTO Cancun, Mexico South Korea: a summer of discontent Korea's two union umbrella organisations have agreed to step up their fight against the government's controversial five-day working week bill under discussion in the National Assembly (parliament). The independent Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the traditionally pro-government Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) say they will be holding more protests against the bill. Sit-ins...

Mexican Tarrant struggle - Workers say: "We are not beggars!"

By Mick Duncan In July workers at the Tarrant Ajalpan factory set up an independent union, SUITTAR (Sindicato Único Independiente de Trabajadores de la Empresa Tarrant México) following strike action in June. Tarrant workers speak of regular forced overtime, unpaid work time, being locked in the factory, verbal and sexual abuse, anti-union reprisals such as placing the names of strikers on do-not-hire lists at other factories, and the aggressive denial of freedom of association. Seven strike leaders have been victimised and, on 22 August 220 workers at this plant were illegally dismissed. News...

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