<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><a href="https://www.usw.org/blog/2019/an-accomplice-to-murder#skip_intro" class="">https://www.usw.org/blog/2019/an-accomplice-to-murder#skip_intro</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 style="margin: 0px auto 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 32px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif; line-height: 1; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(108, 108, 108);" class="">An Accomplice To Murder</h1><time datetime="2019-10-21" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1; display: block; color: rgb(152, 152, 152); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Posted: October 21, 2019</time><div class="author cf" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 10px 0px 20px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;"><figure class="headshot" style="margin: 0px 10px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 35px; height: 35px; float: left;"><a href="https://www.usw.org/blog/archive?author=thomas-m-conway" title="Tom Conway" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class=""><img alt="Tom Conway" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;" apple-inline="yes" id="2A622EE9-A332-491F-8FF2-D78EFF81EC13" height="50" width="50" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:327E5681-43C9-4F59-AC61-47E45C54A525@hsd1.pa.comcast.net." class=""></a></figure><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.1;" class=""><a href="https://www.usw.org/blog/archive?author=thomas-m-conway" title="Tom Conway" class="author-archive" style="margin: 0px auto 3px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; display: block;">Tom Conway</a>USW International President</div></div><figure class="img-right image-intro" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px; float: right; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;"><img alt="An Accomplice To Murder" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;" apple-inline="yes" id="F23AB264-2840-47C6-916B-FA1630B90A10" height="497" width="300" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:84F44622-2EC7-406A-9948-0A8A2F6387CA@hsd1.pa.comcast.net." class=""><figcaption style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.1; font-style: italic;" class="">Oscar Hernández Romero</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Oscar Hernández Romero’s friends searched for him in <a href="https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.remamx.org/2019/10/amenazan-a-ex-mineros-de-media-luna-para-que-dejen-de-buscar-a-su-companero-denuncian/&prev=search" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">garbage dumps, ravines and all the other places</a> that could hide what they feared to find—the bullet-riddled body of a Mexican labor activist.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">But they’ve turned up no trace of Oscar, who <a href="https://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2019/usw-calls-on-mexican-government-to-locate-disappeared-union-activist" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">disappeared</a> near the open-pit gold mine in southwestern Mexico where workers went on strike two years ago demanding to join the independent labor union Los Mineros. Anti-union thugs <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/third-torex-gold-striker-murdered-in-mexico-671133013.html" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">murdered three other men</a> involved in the organizing effort by workers at the Media Luna mine, and Oscar is feared dead, too.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">NAFTA, which <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nafta-at-20-one-million-u_b_4550207" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">siphoned a million jobs</a> from America and <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Public-Citizen-LCLAA_Latinos-and-NAFTA-Report.pdf" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">mired Mexican workers in poverty</a>, is an accomplice to murder because it incentivized the killing of labor activists.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Corporations in Mexico exploit workers and pollute the environment to slash costs, which enables them to undercut U.S. and Canadian competitors. They aggressively thwart unions because their business model requires cheap labor. That puts targets on the backs of labor organizers who work to improve conditions in Mexican factories, mills and mines. And because Mexico too frequently fails to hold anyone accountable for violence against labor leaders, corporate thugs can target these workers with impunity. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">If this situation is going to change, NAFTA must change. Strong labor standards and enforcement provisions must be written into the text of the proposed new NAFTA, including an ironclad right to organize and protection for activists, so Mexican workers can join real labor unions like Los Mineros, throw out company-controlled imposter unions like the one at Media Luna and get better wages and working conditions.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Without these safeguards in the new NAFTA, formally known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexican labor activists will risk death. And corporations will continue to fire American and Canadian workers and move operations to Mexico.</p><a name="intro-skip" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class=""></a><span style="color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""></span><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Because freedom to organize was left out of the original NAFTA 25 years ago, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/1/18523972/may-day-2019-mexico-labor-reform" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">corporations in Mexico routinely bring in employer-affiliated protection unions</a> to help keep workers in line. These fake unions agree to low wage rates and miserable working conditions without bothering to consult the workers they’re supposed to represent.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">That’s what Media Luna’s owner, Torex Gold Resources of Canada, did. In 2013, it struck a deal with <a href="https://m.usw.org/news/media-center/articles/2017/steelworkers-deliver-message-of-solidarity-to-mexican-miners" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">CTM</a>, the biggest of Mexico’s bogus unions, before hiring any workers.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Under that contract, starting wages today are less than $2 an hour. The top-paid workers make about $4 an hour.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">On Nov. 3, 2017, Media Luna workers took a bold step. They <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/third-torex-gold-striker-murdered-in-mexico-671133013.html" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">went on strike</a> demanding to be represented by Los Mineros, one of the few independent labor unions in Mexico and a longtime partner of the United Steelworkers (USW) union. The workers wanted a union that would fight for them, not Media Luna and its absentee owners. They wanted a union led by workers they elected, not Media Luna’s henchmen. They wanted to vote on a real contract.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">They got bullets instead.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Days after the walkout began, thugs with ties to CTM gunned down two brothers, <a href="https://www.unifor.org/en/whats-new/press-room/unifor-national-president-visit-site-striking-mexican-miner-murders" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">Víctor and Marcelino Sahuanitla Peña</a>, at a roadblock the strikers had set up near the mine. The two were murdered for their union activism while early negotiations for the new NAFTA were taking place about 385 miles away in Mexico City.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Then, in January 2018, several men pulled another union activist, <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/third-torex-gold-striker-murdered-in-mexico-671133013.html" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">Quintin Salgado</a>, from his car. They beat him, smashed his cell phone and threatened to kill him. A week later, men with 9-mm weapons shot him dead. Los Mineros suspended its organizing efforts at Media Luna, and most workers now have returned to the mine.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">The murders, still unsolved, illustrate the crucial need to make labor protections the backbone of the new NAFTA. Oscar Hernández Romero’s disappearance drives home the message again as Congress considers a vote in coming weeks.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Oscar, an environmental activist and a leader in the Los Mineros organizing effort, vanished Sept. 24 after leaving home to go to a neighboring town. His car is missing, too.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Police haven’t bothered to look for Oscar, so his family, friends and fellow workers conducted their own search. Local thugs have warned them to <a href="https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.remamx.org/2019/10/por-amenazas-suspenden-la-busqueda-del-ex-trabajador-de-media-luna-desaparecido/&prev=search" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">call it off.</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Los Mineros has <a href="https://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2019/usw-calls-on-mexican-government-to-locate-disappeared-union-activist" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">filed a lawsuit</a> on behalf of Oscar’s family members, who are now in hiding, demanding that the government investigate his disappearance. But violence against labor organizers is seldom investigated, much less prosecuted, and Mexico’s highly publicized new labor law hasn’t changed that.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">The law was passed last spring in the hope that it would spur Democratic members of Congress to vote for the proposed new NAFTA despite Mexico’s abysmal record on worker rights.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">It looks good on paper.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">The law <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/1/18523972/may-day-2019-mexico-labor-reform" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">guarantees workers the right to vote on their contracts and elect their leaders.</a> It <a href="https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2019/09/lopez-obrador-meets-with-richard-trumka-head-of-the-largest-u-s-labor-group-the-afl-cio/" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">requires unions to publicize upcoming contract votes and to give members details of proposed contracts before they cast ballots</a>. It establishes <a href="https://aflcio.org/aboutleadershipstatements/without-fixes-we-must-oppose-new-nafta" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">courts to adjudicate labor disputes</a>. And by increasing unionization rates, it is supposed to boost wages and improve working conditions.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the law a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/1/18523972/may-day-2019-mexico-labor-reform" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">“huge advancement”</a> for workers, and when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka visited him Sept. 4, López Obrador<a href="https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2019/09/lopez-obrador-meets-with-richard-trumka-head-of-the-largest-u-s-labor-group-the-afl-cio/" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class=""> promised to enforce it</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">But the new law has put no visible pressure on officials to find Oscar, solve his colleagues’ murders or prosecute violence against other labor activists. It hasn’t kicked CTM out of Media Luna. There’s been no “huge advancement” for workers so far, and López Obrador’s promise remains just that.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Mexico <a href="https://aflcio.org/testimonies/mexicos-labor-reform-opportunities-and-challenges-improved-nafta" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">hasn’t sufficiently funded enforcement </a> of the new law. And even if adequate funds are allocated, it will take years to develop genuine unions in Mexico, abolish the hundreds of protection unions that infest workplaces, train government officials to implement the labor reforms and fend off constitutional challenges to the new law.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Mexico won’t correct its pervasive labor problems anytime soon—and that’s why strong labor standards and effective enforcement must be baked into the new NAFTA.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">NAFTA’s heavy reliance on the member countries’ existing labor laws failed to adequately protect workers or promote fair trade. Workers’ right to organize, protection for labor activists and the prohibition of protection unions must be explicitly included this time.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">And enforcement of new rules is essential. That means <a href="https://aflcio.org/testimonies/mexicos-labor-reform-opportunities-and-challenges-improved-nafta" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 72, 129); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out;" class="">independent inspection of plants and mills </a> suspected of cheating and the right of a country to block a violator’s products at the border.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">These changes will ease the oppression of Mexican workers. And once Mexican workers belong to genuine labor unions that fight against poverty wages and unsafe working conditions, U.S. corporations will lose an incentive to shift jobs south of the border. American and Mexican companies will begin competing on a somewhat more level playing field.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(108, 108, 108); font-family: Arimo, helvetica, arial, sanserif;" class="">Workers in all three countries deserve to be fairly paid, to work in safe conditions and to join the unions they want. A new NAFTA that fails to hold Mexico responsible for the killing and disappearance of labor activists would be an agreement that cheapens the lives of American and Canadian workers, too.</p></div><br class=""><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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