WORKER-TO-WORKER
FAT-UE Exchange
an ‘Eye-Opener’
Sitting in the UE Local 506 hall with his co-workers
and a labor educator from Mexico, General Electric worker Matt McCracken expressed his
appreciation that the union gave him the opportunity for such an encounter. Listening to
Felipe Ortuño of the Authentic Workers’ Front (FAT) was an "eye-opener,"
he said.
During his visit to western Pennsylvania and Ohio
last month, Ortuño received a warm reception from UE members in Districts Six and Seven
at shift meetings and district council meetings, on the shop floor, and at rallies and
bars. Ortuño, who works with the FAT as an educator, lawyer and organizer, came here last
month as part of the UE-FAT worker-to-worker exchange program.
STRIKER DENIED VISA
UE members also took note of who was missing.
Ortuño was to have been accompanied by Ignacio Munguía, who has been on strike for more
than a year at a Mexican print shop. The rank-and-file FAT member was denied a visa to
enter the United States.
"We feel strongly that the reason the visa was
denied had a lot to do with NAFTA and the upcoming fast track vote," said District
Six Pres. Daniel Smith in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Similar
messages of protest are being sent by District Six locals, Smith told the UE NEWS.
 In his travels, Ortuño
stressed that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has not improved Mexican
workers’ lives. Wages are declining, families need two or three wage earners simply
to feed themselves, children are suffering from malnutrition, crime is on the rise. He
carefully explained how the corruption and government-domination of the
"official" unions limits workers’ rights. Eighty percent of collective
bargaining agreements are arranged behind workers’ backs, he said.
As a chilling, recent example of how workers’
rights are violated, Ortuño cited the FAT’s experience with a thug-infested election
at an Echlin-owned brake factory in Mexico City. (See below for UE’s response.)
But, the FAT organizer pointed out, "new
possibilities are coming together that allow us to struggle against these
conditions." In July, the ruling party lost control of the national legislature and
Mexico City. Discussions now underway are heading towards a new alliance of unions. The
UE-FAT alliance is important because it is focused on building democratic unions in
Mexico, Ortuño told his union audiences.
GETTING PEOPLE’S ATTENTION
The Mexican educator/organizer addressed the
District Seven Council meeting where, according to District Pres. Joyce
Clayborne,
delegates found his remarks informative and valuable. "The key to me is that he was
asked questions," she told the UE NEWS. "That means people were paying
attention and there were things they wanted to know." Questions raised concerned wage
levels in Mexico and the FAT’s plans.
After Ortuño’s presentation, Leonard King of
Local 947 said his local would contribute a dollar per member a month to help support the
FAT’s organizing worker, and challenged other locals to follow suit. The Council
voted to recommend that every District Seven local undertake such a program.
Attending the District Six Council meeting, Ortuño
was presented a check from amalgamated Local 623 "$500 collected to support the
FAT’s organizing. District Six Pres. Daniel Smith handed the FAT representative a
check for $250.
 WESTERN
PENNSYLVANIA & OHIO
Ortuño’s visit to the council meeting followed
several close encounters with western Pennsylvania UE members. He spoke at a rally outside
Reid Plastics in Leetsdale, where Local 690 members are in negotiations, toured B&K
Tool in Murrysville with District Pres. Smith and Local 623 Pres. Jim Cook, and toured
Liberty Iron in Erie with Smith, Local 683 Pres. Rich Drylie and Local Treas. Joe
Toscano,
along with Local 618 Pres. Betsy Potter.
And the Mexican organizer spoke to Local 506 members
at meetings for all three shifts at the General Electric plant in Erie. Donna Cramer
introduced Ortuño at all three meetings; the local political action chair, she traveled
to Mexico last year as part of the UE-FAT worker-to-worker exchange program.
WORKERS FACE THE SAME THREATS
The shift meetings had better-than-usual attendance,
Cramer reported. The GE workers were receptive and curious; many had informal questions
for Ortuño and Robin Alexander, UE international labor affairs director, after the
meetings, she said. "People are starting to understand that it’s not that
Mexican workers are taking their jobs, but that corporate America is abusing, misusing and
discarding workers here," Cramer said.
Local 506 hosted a reception which gave the FAT
organizer a chance to meet with state and county officials, leaders of civic organizations
and clergy.
In Ohio, Ortuño toured a IUE-represented Packard
Electric plant and met with workers and union leaders at a meeting of the IUE local’s
solidarity committee. He addressed the annual dinner of the Beaver County, Pa. AFL-CIO
Council and lectured to university classes in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He also met the
three UE general officers.
As the UE NEWS went to press, Robin Alexander was
concluding a tour with another Mexican visitor, Maria de los Angeles Lopez, a FAT
organizer and educator from the State of Leon.
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A trip to Mexico as part of the
worker-to-worker exchanges sponsored by UE and the Authentic Workers Front (FAT) gave the
president of the UE local at Cleveland Twist Drill a different outlook on the impact of
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).