Dear friends,

Please find below an update on the situation at Matamoros Garment from the CAT. The news is not good. As you will see the factory, which was facing serious legal and financial difficulties (due to a large extent to mismanagement), has effectively closed down. The workers are left to carry the burden. There are some slight possibilities for reopening the plant under new management. Secondly, the Local Board of Conciliation and Arbitration rejected the application for registration of the indepedent union of MG workers, SITEMAG. The workers and the CAT are determined to continue their struggle, the main goal of which is to win their appeal of the denial of their legal recognition and assure that the maquila reopens with a new owner and the production of PUMA and other brands that recognize that the voice of the workers is SITEMAG. CAT will continue housevisiting the workers, training the SITEMAG committee, and helping the workers find stable employment with the Mexmode factory in Atlixco that already has an independent union until there is work again at the factory in Izúcar de Matamoros.

The workers and the CAT once again call upon your support (see point 4 of this update) to pressure the government to recognize SITEMAG as the authentic representative of the workers of Matamoros Garment. Faxnumber and email adresses are supplied below. Please take a moment to keep the pressure up in this important case! The German CCC will continue to keep in touch with PUMA to ensure that they keep up their promise of placing new orders and allowing for independent verification (including of the right to freedom of association) in case a the factory reopens.

Matamoros Garment Campaign Update March 28, 2003

1. Matamoros Garment Closes
2. Government, Charro Union and Business Partners Agree to Buy off the Workers
3. Local Labor Board Denies Freedom of Union Association
4. Urgent and Continuous Actions Needed to Pressure the Government

Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, México

The Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT) brings very serious news to the national and international supporters of the Matamoros Garment Campaign. At the same time it’s necessary to tell you that we are not giving up on this fight because the Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Empresa Matamoros Garment (SITEMAG) is committed to achieve dignity for the workers through the struggle to overcome all of the labor rights violations. Now more than ever we are confident that we can support the workers’ organization with your help and support. We should continue pressuring the Mexican government at all levels to respect the workers’ rights and live up to their responsibility to defend the workers of Matamoros Garment. ¡La lucha sigue!

Although they still can’t admit the truth, Matamoros Garment management, in collaboration with the Sindicato Francisco Villa of the CTM, has effectively closed the factory. The workers were paid their last weeks of back pay and the factory has removed the sewing machines. Antonio Rumilla, the Mexican business partner of factory director John Whittinghill, has officially told the workers and the Puebla media that Matamoros Garment will be undergo a “technical work stoppage” during which time there will be no work and the workers will not receive their severance pay. A technical work stoppage or any other form of work stoppage implemented by the factory without giving certain prior notice and proof of financial necessity is illegal according to Mexican labor law.

To the workers and the CAT is seems obvious that the Local Labor Board (Junta Local de Conciliación y Arbitraje or JLCA), the CTM union federation, Rumilla and Whittinghill have hatched a plan to assure themselves a smooth exit and nothing for the hundreds of workers who have labored for up to four years in the maquila. Below is a chronology of the past two weeks, showing what’s happened and revealing the horrible intentions of the JLCA, the CTM and company management.

• Monday, March 17 After work management told the workers that there was no production and that the workers should come on Thursday to receive their paychecks.

• Tuesday, March 18 SITEMAG met with Prof. Justiniano Ruiz Tirado of the municipal office of Izúcar de Matamoros, asking him to help the unemployed workers. He spoke with the JLCA who responded that the situation was a “dispute between two unions.”

• Thursday, March 20 The workers arrived at the factory, waited several hours without receiving any news, and finally management and the JLCA told them that they were still not going to pay them but that they should come on Monday to pick up their checks. Also SITEMAG and the CAT began to housevisit the workers to marshal support for a collective demand for their back pay and severances.

• Monday, March 24 Antonio Rumilla, Sánchez Mondragón from the CTM, Labor Board President Armando Toxqui and his Secretary General Jorge Ramos met in the JLCA office to decide how to handle the Matamoros Garment situation.They agreed to call a “technical work stoppage” of 15 days at 50% pay and that Rumilla would pay the workers their two weeks’ back pay.

• Also on Monday, March 24 SITEMAG and the CAT went to the municipal office of Izúcar de Matamoros to present Municipal President Melitón with legal allegations that the Matamoros Garment management intentionally stole the workers’ back pay. Later that day at noon the workers arrived at the factory to be paid. Several reporters were also present. Everyone waited until four o’clock in the afternoon until the CTM arrived with the JLCA, who witnessed the payment of two weeks’ back pay using backdated checks. Then the CTM gave the workers free tacos and meat dishes and, together with the Local Labor Board, explained the situation to the workers. They told lies about the CAT, for example that John Whittinghill was paying the CAT to sow confusion amongst the workers and that the CAT had falsified the signatures for the workers’ collective demand. At this moment various workers spoke up saying that these allegations about the CAT were lies and questioning why the CTM and the JLCA had to buy the workers’ loyalty by giving away free food. Afterward the CAT submitted the collective demand to the JLCA with the signatures of 80 of the 130 workers currently at the plant, demanding that workers receive their severance pay.

• Tuesday, March 25 At 8:30 pm the sewing machines were removed from the factory.

• Wednesday, March 26 The JLCA denied SITEMAG’s legal recognition, citing three reasons: they couldn’t clarify the name of the union, the name of Ricarda Vazquéz of the union committee was written wrong and a mechanic from a legally-excluded position as confidential employee was forced to sign the recognition papers. The JLCA couldn’t give the workers the official written denial because it was mailed to the wrong address.

• Thursday, March 27 After a long and intense search, the CAT tracked down the recognition’s written rejection. We were very surprised to see that the legal recognition had officially been denied since March 21 of the week before, which left us only half of the permitted 15 days to file an appeal.

After an intense week of international demands made of the local governments of Izúcar de Matamoros, the State of Puebla, the Local Labor Board, and the Ministry of Labor in Mexico City and the Embassies and Consulates of México abroad, the same disappointing actors here in Puebla won the battle, but not the war. They made an agreement amongst themselves, as well as with Rumilla, Whittinghill and the CTM, to close the factory, not pay the workers’ severances and avoid the rise of SITEMAG and its legal recognition. The workers of SITEMAG and the CAT, as well as many international organizations like US/LEAP, USAS and the Campaign for Labor Rights, contacted the Municipal President of Izúcar de Matamoros, Prof. Melitón Lozano Pérez, asking him to positively intervene on behalf of the workers and citizens of his town. In a written response to US/LEAP, the Director of Government of Izúcar de Matamoros, Prof. Justiniano Ruiz Tirado, wrote that his office had “made the necessary links with the Local Labor Board, specifically with Lic. Armando Toxqui Quintero, who made himself available to do whatever necessary to attend to the problems expressed by the workers.” And now we see exactly what type of link the politicians of Puebla had in mind they always prefer to be on the side of the company and the corrupt, financial interests in Puebla, not on the side of their fellow citizens and workers. The demands of the international groups, SITEMAG and the CAT seemingly fell on deaf ears, because Antonio Rumilla of Matamoros Garment and Mario Antonio Sánchez Mondragón of the Sindicato Francisco Villa of the CTM protected their charro union and the future of labor exploitation in the Izúcar de Matamoros area when they convinced Toxqui and the State of Puebla to deny SITEMAG’s legal recognition and leave hundreds of workers in the street without employment or severance pay.

On January 13, 2003, 162 out of 250 Matamoros Garment workers signed legal papers during their one-day strike to form a new union, an independent union so the workers could exercise their right to freedom of union association. On June 20 SITEMAG delivered these papers and the JLCA told them to wait 60 days until the end of March to see if they’d be accepted. Yesterday SITEMAG received the decision, and no one was surprised the Local Labor Board denied the legal registration, citing three weak reasons that had nothing to do with the main point, that the majority of workers wanted and still wants an independent union to replace the company-selected, government-controlled CTM. Yes, the workers and the CAT are upset by the decision, especially that the JLCA did not allow the full 15 days to file an appeal because they delivered the papers late and to the wrong address seven days after the 15-day period had already begun. However we are going to keep forming and building the union until, under the weight of national and international pressure, the corrupt political forces of Puebla are forced to recognize SITEMAG as the authentic representative of the workers of Matamoros Garment.

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Therefore the continued participation of our national and international supporters is of the utmost importance. The main goals are to win the workers’ appeal of the denial of their legal recognition and assure that the maquila reopens with a new owner and the production of PUMA and other brands that recognize that the voice of the workers is SITEMAG. Here in Puebla we will continue housevisiting the workers, training the SITEMAG committee, and helping the workers find stable employment with the Mexmode factory in Atlixco that already has an independent union until there is work again at the factory in Izúcar de Matamoros. We need you to help us with the following steps, and as always, to tell PUMA to stick to its promise to return its production to the factory when we know whom the new owner will be.

1. Contact Prof. Melitón Lozano Pérez of Izúcar de Matamoros Demand that he intervene to resolve the land question regarding the Matamoros Garment property so the workers can have their jobs back. He promised all of us that he was going to intervene on the workers’ behalf, but so far he hasn’t done anything. The current situation is that the last municipal president of Izúcar de Matamoros gave the land to Korean businessman John Kim, but Kim can’t legally sell the land because there’s still a dispute between two ejidos about who really owns the land. Melitón is a PRD political party leader in a state where the two main political parties are the PRI and the PAN. He needs to maintain his political base of support because, if not, surely the other parties will win the voters’ sympathies.

Profr. Melitón Lozano Pérez
Honorable Ayuntamiento de Izúcar de Matamoros
Palacio Municipal S/N, Colonia Centro
Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, México 74400
Telephone: (243) 436-0006
Email: info@izucar.com.mx

2. Contact the Governor of the State of Puebla Demand that Governor Melquíades Morales Flores do two things for the citizens and workers of his state. First, that he use his power and influence to ensure that SITEMAG wins the legal recognition appeal, because the Local Labor Board is part of the state government. Second, that he resolve the land question at Matamoros Garment. Morales is a PRI political party leader and it’s important for his party that the Izúcar de Matamoros investment climate isn’t threatened by an anti-union, anti-progress reputation. In a few weeks Morales is going to Washington D.C. and this will be a good opportunity for groups to meet with him.

Gobernador Melquíades Morales Flores
14 Oriente, No. 1204, Colonia El Alto
Puebla, Puebla, México
Telephone: (222) 213-8815, 213-8816
Email him at: http://www.puebla.gob.mx/gobierno/escribealgobernador.html

3. Contact the Local Labor Board Although the JLCA denied SITEMAG’s legal recognition and collaborated with the company and the charro union, they still need to know that we will not back off just because our first attempt was denied. Of the three reasons that the JLCA gave for denying the legal recognition, only one had any merit whatsoever, that the name of one of the leaders was incorrectly written. The JLCA is charged with a legal responsibility to help correct technical errors on the applications. They failed this responsibility at the very least, but more importantly they need to assure that the workers receive their legally entitled severance pay and recognize the union when the appeal is filed. We insist that the JLCA be neutral in this process and not take the side of the company or the CTM.

Lic. Armando Toxqui Quintero
Junta Local de Conciliación y Arbitraje
7 Norte 205, Colonia Centro
Puebla, Puebla, México
Telephone: (222) 232-2551
Email: armando.toxqui@puebla.gob.mx

4. Contact the Government of the United States of México The Mexican federal government has a responsibility to defend the citizens and workers of the country. The government of President Vicente Fox is affiliated with the PAN political party, which has an electoral interest that the other two parties don’t gain more strength in Puebla. The message for the federal government is that they intervene to resolve the land question, to assure a stable investment climate in Puebla, and to advocate for SITEMAG’s legal recognition. Some groups have already had success meeting with the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. Also, some have communicated with the Mexican Ministry of Labor in Mexican City.

Please contact the embassies and consulates in your various countries, or communicate directly with:

Lic. Carlos María Abascal Carranza
Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social
Periférico Sur, No. 4271, Edif.. A, Piso 4
Colonia Fuentes del Pedregal
D.F. México, México 14149
Fax: (52) 5645-5594
Email: correo@stps.gob.mx