The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.8           March 1, 1999 
 
 
Copper miners strike in Cananea, Mexico  
Some 2,100 members of National Miners Union Local 65 struck Grupo Mexico's copper mine in Cananea, Mexico, November 19. Above, strikers picket the mine, the second largest in the Spanish-speaking Americas, in January. They are fighting company attempts to cut benefits and wages, now at $8-12 a day. Other issues include job cuts, production quotas, and safety. The company won a court ruling declaring the strike illegal, and threatened to fire up to 198 union members they accused of vandalism. Union officials announced an agreement February 11, brokered by the Mexican government, that would close three departments of the mine and cut 700 jobs. The next day hundreds of miners protested the contract and vowed to continue the strike. Open since the mid-1600s, the mine was the site of a general strike in 1906 that sparked the Mexican revolution. The miners last strike there was in 1989, after which the Mexican government sold the mine to Grupo Mexico.

 
 
 
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