Giving up your life for workers’ rights. Is it worth it?

There is a possibility that while you are reading this blog, a person named Cayetano Cabrera could have already died in front of Palacio Nacional in Mexico City.

If –hopefully–he is still alive, he will complete the 88^th day of his hunger strike this Thursday. He is one of the 40,000 workers who lost their jobs when the government disbanded the Companía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro, a state-owned electric company, last October.

Cayetano and 16,000 other workers affiliated to the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME) didn’t accept the government’s decision and decided to fight to get their jobs back. After many street protests, marches and attempts to dialogue with authorities, 96 workers decided to take an extreme measure–a hunger strike.

Not all of them were able to sustain their fast. Up to now, 15 workers are fasting in the main square of downtown Mexico City. Besides Cayetano, another worker, Miguel Angel Ibarra, has completed 84 days without eating anything.

Every time that I read or hear about a hunger strike I ask myself: What can be more worthy than your own life?

In an radio interview last week, Cayetano explained in plain and simple words the reasons why he is risking his life:  "I'll give my life for my comrades in resistance, as long as we get back our work and respect for our rights."

I was in Mexico City last week, and I spoke to one of the workers, who was not fasting, but supports the efforts of his co-workers. “My grandfather, my father and me worked in the company. We are electricians. We were proud of our company, of our union, of our collective contract,” said Marco Antonio Vazquez, as he stood outside of the improvised tents where the strikers were encamped.  “We have to defend our rights as workers. If we don’t do it, what kind of example are we giving to our children?”

The problem between the government and the workers affiliated to the SME is not black and white. It involves many legal and political issues that make it difficult to find an acceptable solution for all parties.

The SME is one of the oldest, independent and combative unions in Mexico. When the government disbanded the company, it also eliminated one of the most beneficial collective labor contracts achieved by unionized workers in 96 years of Mexico’s history. The government offered them a new job with the company that replaced the Companía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro, but it would not recognize their seniority, their union, nor the collective labor contract.

For that reason, the workers did not accept the government’s decision. For that reason, Cayetano and 15 other workers are putting their lives on the line. For that reason, the union  may have a martyr soon.

In a way, the government-SME conflict shows clearly the faces of two ideologies that have confronted Mexico for a long time. The one of that tries to be more business oriented by eliminating workers’ rights and getting rid of unions and collective labor contracts, and the one represented by thousands of workers who are left unprotected and vulnerable to the employers and the job market.

Dialogue and negotiations are not always the most effective tools in Mexico. Many times, when a decision is made from the top, the workers don’t have many choices and they have to go to extremes. It has always been like that. Mexico ‘s government seems to be indifferent to the spectacle of people dying in front of Palacio Nacional. 

And that is an extremely painful image

Hopefully Cayetano and his co-workers won’t die.  

Comments

[Bob]

I wonder why the Mexican Government would take this type of action when,IMO, there are more critical social and economic issues facing them everyday? Did they decide that the SME was part of the problem and not part of the solution? Being more 'business oriented' doesn't necessarily warrant eliminating a union or workers' protection. A follow-up article illuminating both positions/gripes would be helpful.