Version imprimableYour support to the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) is crucial for the workers’ resistance.
As you are aware, on October the 10th the government of Felipe Calderon, served by police and army, occupied the installations of national public enterprise Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC) - which provides electric service to 25 million users in Central Mexico - and ordered its "extinction", leaving 44 thousand workers unemployed and 21 thousand pensioners in helplessness, in an open violation of the Constitution, the Federal Labor Law and the most basic human rights.
The pretext is an alleged enterprise ineffectiveness or insolvency, caused patiently by the government for years, but with the real goal of destroying the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) and its collective agreement, forged during almost a century, and to advance privatization of the electric industry.
The government stubbornness remains despite the huge demonstration of popular support for SME held on October the 15th, in which more than 350 thousand people participated, and the National Civic Strike carried out one month after the blow, on November 11, involving about 2 million people. The government and its media apparatus have ignored it and continue their slander campaign against SME.
Instead of decreasing, the tension is rising. The regime seems prepared to repression and barbarism in order to not giving up-as it has done before against the miners union, which has caused the death of several workers and jail or exile for their leaders-and in the other hand SME is ready to take its defense to the end. It is a confrontation that also involves large sections of Mexican People, which not only sympathizes but joins to this fight all grievances suffered because of the neoliberals.
The coming weeks will be decisive and critical. This is why we are making a call for trade unions, social and civil rights organizations in the world, and also to defenders of workers, labor and human rights and democratic freedoms, to:
* Participate in International Day of Solidarity with the SME on December the 3rd, performing protest acts in Mexico ’s embassies in your country. The Day coincides with the great mobilization that national organizations will made, consisting of caravans from all around the country in way to Mexico City on December the 4th, an historical and symbolic day since a day like that in 1914 the Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa’s armies took Mexico City.
* Send international missions in order to testify about what happens in our country in this chain of injustices against the electrical workers and the people of Mexico , to spread this in your countries and to plead for a just solution. You could join United States and Canada trade unions that are coming in the first days of December, or instead come about December the 14th, the day on which the SME is celebrating its 95th anniversary and there will be acts of great importance.
* To make an extraordinary and urgent effort in order to make financial contributions to support the resistance of electrician workers, because on that depends the success of this fight that is so important for Mexican people and for the international cause of defense of public services and the workers’ rights; each passing day the situation of the tens of thousands of arbitrarily dismissed electrical workers and their families is more critical and that is used by the government to blackmail and pressure them; especially now that winter and holidays approach, basic survival and welfare of these families represent an emergency situation and appeal to the most basic solidarity commitment. We hope your organization can truly have the possibility to give immediate and significant support. For a decent Christmas for electricians and workers in struggle!
Your economic contributions can be deposited in SME’s account for international transfers:
Bank’s Address: BBVA PLAZA MEXICO D.F.
Name of the Bank: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.
Bank Identification Code: (SWIFT / BIC (Bank Identification Code) BCMRMXMN
Account number: 0168715246
Account holder: MARTIN ESPARZA FLORES AND FERNANDO MUÑOZ PONCE (UNITED ACCOUNT)
Holder Address: Insurgentes 98, Col. Tabacalera, del. Cuauhtémoc, CP 06470, México, D.F.
To contact or to coordinate your possible participation in these initiatives, you can write to the origin address of this urgent action or directly to the following SME addresses:
Fernando Amezcua, Relations Secretary: samezcuacf@sme.org.mx
Humberto Montes de Oca, Internal Secretary: pp_mdo@yahoo.com.mx
José Manuel Pérez Vázquez, Relations Secretary’s collaborator: jm_perezvazquez@yahoo.com
