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Steelworkers Oppose $500 Million 'Plan Mexico'

USW Opposes $500 Million ‘Plan Mexico’

Human and Labor Rights Must Be Protected before Mexican Government
Given Blank Check to Allegedly Fight Drug War

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The United Steelworkers union announced today that it opposes handing Mexico what amounts to a blank check for $500 million for border enforcement of drug trafficking because it’s likely the American tax dollars will instead end up further undermining human and labor rights in Mexico.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard notified the chairmen of
Congressional committees and subcommittees handling the Bush
Administration’s request for the money that, at the very least,
hearings should be conducted before votes are taken so human rights
activists and trade unionists may testify to the violations that have
occurred under the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon
and his predecessor.

“Without fundamental institutional reforms in Mexico, and concrete
commitments on the part of the Mexican government to cease its
violations of labor and human rights, we believe that the money
requested by the Administration will serve to reinforce a pattern of
impunity,” Mr. Gerard wrote in his letter to the Congressional
leaders.

The letter outlines violations of human and labor rights documented by
organizations such as Human Rights Watch. These include soldiers in
Coahuila state beating municipal policemen and sexually abusing 14
women and the refusal of the government to hold any company official
responsible for the deaths of 65 miners in the explosion at the Pasta
de Conchos mine in February 2006.

Gerard noted that giving such an administration access to an
unrestricted $500 million for law enforcement would make matters
worse. “Indeed, the repression of labor unions and human rights
organizations will likely lead even more Mexicans to conclude that
their only future lies in migration to the U.S.,” he wrote.

The Bush Administration’s request for the $500 million, called the
“Merida Initiative” or “Plan Mexico” is attached to the emergency
request for supplemental funding for Iraq.

Mr. Gerard urged the lawmakers, as an alternative, to research methods
for using the money to encourage economic development based on respect
for human and labor rights in Mexico.

The USW is the largest industrial union in North America with 850,000
members in the U.S. and Canada.

Go to The Hill’s Congress Blog to add comments to United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard’s comments re. Plan Mexico.