VZCZCXRO1845
RR RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHQU
RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHME #0462/01 0502153
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 192153Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2364
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0542
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 000462 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM PINR MX
SUBJECT: STRIKING CHIHUAHUA MINERS SETTLE FOR HALF OF LOST 
WAGES 
 
REF: (A) MEXICO 0183 (B) MEXICO 0126 (C) MEXICO 0013 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: The strike that began some three weeks ago at 
the Naica lead mine in the northern border state of Chihuahua 
(REF A) was settled on February 8.  The strikers at the Naica 
mine belong to Local No. 30 of the National Union of Miners 
and Metalworkers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSRM), 
Mexico,s oldest and largest miners union.  The workers from 
Local No. 30 launched a strike to demand a 10 percent wage 
increase when the mine,s owners refused to offer more than 6 
percent.  The GOM,s Labor Secretariat (STPS) took an active 
part in the negotiations that ultimately resolved the strike. 
 Ordinarily the STPS tries to play a neutral role in such 
negotiations but this time that was clearly not the case. 
Instead, at the very start of the negotiations the STPS 
publicly described the union,s position as &rigid and 
inflexible8. Under STSP pressure, Local No. 30 eventually 
settled for the 6 percent increase offered by the mine 
owners.  The only thing the Local No. 30 workers got from the 
negotiations was an agreement from the company to 50 percent 
of the wages union members lost during the strike.  Mexican 
Federal Labor Law indicates that striking workers are 
eligible for, although not entitled to, 100 percent of wages 
lost during a strike action.  In this case, the only thing 
the Local No. 30 workers obtained by going on strike was the 
loss of 50 percent of their wages for the 21 days they walked 
off the job. END SUMMARY. 
 
 
MINERS END STRIKE WITH LITTLE TO SHOW FOR THEIR EFFORTS 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2.  On January 15, the members of Local No. 30 of the 
National Union of Miners and Metalworkers of the Mexican 
Republic (SNTMMSRM) launched a strike at the Naica lead mine 
located in the northern border state of Chihuahua.  The mine 
workers began their strike when their employer, the &Minera 
Maple8 company of the Penoles mining group, refused their 
demand for a 10 percent wage increase.  As a counter offer, 
the company offered workers a 6 percent increase.  The 
counter proposal was initially rejected but, on the evening 
of February 8, following a 21 day strike, the union Local 
reversed itself and reluctantly accepted the company,s offer. 
 
¶3.  The Naica mine is Mexico,s largest lead mine.  It 
employs over 500 people of which 350 are unionized with 
another 100 persons hired on individual employment contacts. 
The remaining employees are management staffers.  At the time 
Local No. 30 launched the Naica mine strike it was one of 
several labor actions being carried out across Mexico by 
different SNTMMSRM Locals.  The longest running SNTMMSRM 
strike was, and remains, a labor action carried out by Local 
No. 65 at the Cananea copper mine in the state of Sonora. 
Officially, Local No. 65,s strike at the Cananea mine is a 
dispute over unsafe working conditions but most labor 
observers agree that that particular strike is politically 
motivated protest in support of the SNTMMSRM,s national 
leader, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who has several criminal 
corruption charges pending against him.  The Naica mine 
strike differed from the ongoing Cananea labor action in that 
it was essentially a dispute over wages with little, if any, 
political overtones. 
 
 
STRIKING MINERS CONFRONTED BY THE GOM 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  In launching their strike for increased wages the members 
of Local No. 30 justified their action by pointing to rising 
world metal prices.  In light of rising world metal prices, 
the Local argued, their demand for a 10 percent wage increase 
was a simple request for a fairer sharing of the wealth.  In 
support of this position the Local pointed to the fact that 
the Mining Chamber of Mexico, a national commercial 
association that represents mine owners, had predicted a 30 
increase in mining profits for this year (assuming the 
increase in world metal prices remains constant).  Given 
these facts, the striking workers might well have obtained 
the requested wage increase had it not been for the GOM,s 
Labor Secretariat (STPS). 
 
¶5.  Since taking office in December 2006, the government of 
 
MEXICO 00000462  002 OF 003 
 
 
Mexican President Felipe Calderon,s administration has 
attempted unsuccessfully to resolve a complicated dispute 
with the SNTMMSRM union that it inherited from its 
predecessor.  Overall the Calderon government,s attempts to 
settle this inherited dispute have been slow and it appears 
the GOM,s patience finally ran out.  On January 11, just 
four days before the start of the Naica strike, the GOM took 
advantage of a questionable judicial ruling to send federal 
police and army troops to confront the SNTMMSRM at the 
Cananea mine.  After the fact, the union succeeded in 
obtaining a superior court injunction against the 
questionable ruling but by then government forces were in 
control of the mine. 
 
¶6.  This was the first time ever the Calderon government had 
used force against a striking union.  The SNTMMSRM members at 
the receiving end of this force belonged to union Local No. 
65 and not Local No. 30 at the Naica mine.  That said, the 
tone of the GOM,s dealings with SNTMMSRM Locals had been set 
and it soon became clear that the government intended to take 
a harder line with all elements of the national miners union. 
 
 
GOM ALL BUT DICTATE A SETTLEMENT OF THE NAICA STRIKE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶7.  According to a variety of media accounts negotiations 
between the representatives of Local No. 30 and the 
management of the Naica mine were ongoing from the very first 
day of the strike. Senior STPS officials took an active role 
in these negotiations. STPS participation, normally as a 
neutral arbiter, in discussions to resolve a labor dispute is 
not unusual.  In this particular case however, the STPS, 
role was far from neutral.  Instead the Labor Secretariat 
clearly signaled its disagreement with the Naica mine labor 
action by characterizing Local No. 30,s wage demands as 
excessive and publicly describing the union,s position as 
&rigid and inflexible.8 
 
¶8.  In addition to calling the striking workers inflexible 
the STPS did not hesitate to express it,s unease over the 
fact that Local No. 30 was seeking a wage increase in excess 
of the general four percent salary increase the government 
established in late December 2007 (REF C).  GOM officials 
also pointed out that most SNTMMSRM union Locals were 
accepting wage increases of 6 percent for 2008.  When 
confronted with the points forcefully put forth by the STPS 
it was difficult for Local No. 30 to try and hold out for a 
wage increase significantly higher than that being accepted 
by other union Locals.  At the conclusion of the 
negotiations, the striking workers of Local No. 30 were 
granted 50 percent of the wages lost while they were on 
strike.  Mostly likely this concession by the company was a 
sweetener to help soften the fact that in the end the union 
had no choice but to accept management,s offer of a 6 
percent salary increase. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  Mexican Federal Law provides that striking workers may 
receive, but are in no way entitled to, the wages lost during 
a strike action.  In the case of the Naica strike the mine,s 
owners, with the help of the GOM, were able to force Local 
No. 30 to back down from their demand for a 10 percent wage 
increase and accept the 6 percent raise that had been offered 
from the very start.  This was clearly a defeat for the union 
since, in the face of GOM and management opposition, the only 
thing the members of SNTMMSRM Local No. 30 obtained by going 
on strike, other than the original wage increase offered by 
the mine owners, was a 50 percent pay cut for the 21 days 
that the workers were out on strike. 
 
¶10.  This message was cleared with AmConsul Ciudad Juarez. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MEXICO 00000462  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA