Power Struggle Intensifies in Mexico, as Government, Union Clash

[Omaha Steve]

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5051/power_struggle_intensifies_in_mexico_as_government_union_clash/

Thursday October 15 6:35 pm


A laid-off 'Luz y Fuerza del Centro' worker carries a Mexican flag during a protest in Mexico City Wednesday. (ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images)

Four days after the Mexican government suddenly and dramatically shut down a major state-run electricity company—deploying hundreds of federal police officers to secure scores of facilities operated by the Light and Power Company of Mexico (Luz y Fuerza del Centro) over the weekend—workers are protesting the decision en masse in the streets of Mexico City.

The closure of Luz y Fuerza, which supplied power to the capital and its environs, affects 44,000 active workers and 22,000 retirees, AFP reported today. 50,000 protesters were expected to attend a protest march through Mexico City's center Thursday.

The government says the company is inefficient and wastes electricity, and that a larger state-run company, the Federal Electricity Commission, will take over its operations.

“Today we have to correct those things that don’t work in the country,” President Felipe Calderón told Mexicans on national TV Sunday. Calderon's administration has said federal subsidies for Luz y Fuerza are a strain on Mexico's treasury and that the president would rather spend money on anti-poverty programs.

But there's an important labor backdrop to Calderon's decision to close the company and fire thousands of members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), one of the country's strongest. The New York Times reports:

Members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union… marched to the presidential residence and blocked rush-hour traffic last week after the government refused to recognize the election of the union’s secretary general, Martín Esparza. The Labor Ministry has said there were signs of fraudulent voting in the election.

FULL story at link.