BY LAURA GARZA
More than 100,000 workers turned out for a May Day demonstration in Mexico City to protest the devastating consequences of the government's austerity measures. The turnout was one of the largest in years. For the first time in 74 years the main labor federation, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), which is tied to the ruling party, canceled its plans for the annual march. But several smaller unions not affiliated to the CTM called for a rally. They were joined by tens of thousands of other workers, organized and unorganized, employed and unemployed.

CTM president Fidel Velázquez, 95, who has dominated the pro-government federation since the 1940s, had announced the cancellation of its May Day rally by saying there was not much to celebrate. At a meeting of the CTM-led Congress of Labor, however, he admitted "the rank and file could go beyond our control and that could lead to a serious situation." Instead, CTM officials held a ceremony to hear a speech by Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo.

As a result of the stunning impact of skyrocketing unemployment and inflation, along with the efforts by union officials to stem labor protests, the number of strikes in the period of January to April was the lowest since 1989. But social tensions are growing, and the mood at this year's May Day rally was visibly angry. "The government just shoves people to the ground and expects them to say, `Yes, sir,' " exclaimed Antonio Flores, 54, an unemployed barber who took part in the march. "We will not accept that anymore."

Contingents of telephone workers, electrical workers, teachers, workers from the Mexican Social Security Institute, and a variety of political parties and organizations marched to the huge downtown Zócalo plaza, virtually filling it. The demonstration drew many who have suffered from the layoffs that have swept the country. Signs reading, "I am an unemployed worker" or "I am a laid-off worker" dotted the crowd.

The heroes of the march were the workers from the city's independent bus drivers union, Sutaur-100. They have been in a fight to oppose the government's union-busting and privatization plan. On April 8, the government-run Route 100 was declared bankrupt. The government abruptly fired the company's 14,000 employees and offered to rehire some of them without their union. Several leaders of Sutaur-100, which is a union unaffiliated to the CTM, were arrested and charged with fraud for misappropriating funds.

The government tried to run partial service for free with gun-toting cops as drivers or riders. Hundreds more police and helicopters patrolled the route in an effort to prevent union protests from shutting down service. The government claimed the union and its members are linked to the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in Chiapas.

"We did join activities in solidarity with poor people in Chiapas, and we even sent them food," fired bus driver José García told the daily La Jornada. The government attacked the drivers "because we are a union that doesn't get on its knees," he added.

May Day marchers carried banners demanding that the jailed leaders of the bus drivers be freed.

Irma Islas, general secretary of the union of social security workers, said the bankruptcy move against Route 100 "is a probe that may lead to other bankruptcies of what little remains of the national patrimony." She pointed out that the social security institute plans to subcontract a range of its departments to private companies and eliminate the jobs of 10,000 union members.

The government's austerity measures, aimed at ensuring uninterrupted payments to wealthy international holders of bonds and debts, have taken a devastating toll on workers and peasants. Inflation is expected to exceed the predicted annual rate of 42 percent. In January and February, following the December 20 devaluation of the peso, 750,000 people lost their jobs, according to government figures.

Mexico has no system of unemployment benefits. Workers often receive severance pay amounting to three months' wages, but this is quickly drying up for growing numbers of workers and their families.

Today, one out of five workers in Mexico is unemployed or underemployed, and according to government figures 14 million of the country's 92 million people live in poverty.

Middle-class layers that were better off in the last few years, racking up credit card and bank loan debts, are now being hit by interest rates of between 80 and 120 percent. A woman cited in Miami's El Nuevo Herald April 27 bought a car at 39,000 pesos in 1992 but will end up having to pay a total of 83,000 pesos to clear up the debt.

Among the May Day demonstrators were members of El Barzón, an organization of farmers and small businessmen. It has called for a moratorium on debt payments to protest the astronomical interest rates and the banks' foreclosure of debtors' property.

Growers in Veracruz and ranchers in the north are being forced to let fruit rot and cattle die because the cost of transportation and fodder is beyond their reach.

The stability of the banking system remains shaky. The rate of loan defaults by businesses and individuals rose 45 percent, or nearly $1 billion, in the first three months of the year.

Capitalist investors and government spokespeople are pleased with Zedillo's economic policies. They point to the fact that in the past few weeks the peso's precipitous fall has been stemmed and the stock market is coming back as proof that the government's plans are working.

The regime's stepped-up plans to privatize industries and open them up to greater foreign control has been a key part of its effort to regain the confidence of international investors. One example was the Mexican Senate's approval April 26 of a law ending the telecommunications monopoly of the Mexican Telephone Co. Concessions to operate telecommunications companies can now be granted for 30-year periods with up to 49 percent foreign investment.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, said he viewed the initial results of the government's measures as "very encouraging."

Eager to declare the patient on the road to recovery, capitalist newspapers have praised the recent performance of the country's economy. "Mexico has already begun to recover, at least in the purely financial sense," said a May 1 editorial in the Washington Post. A Barron's columnist opined, "The average Mexican worker is taking a beating as unemployment and inflation exceed forecasts, but from a macroeconomic perspective the country's prospects have brightened considerably."

Juana Soli's, 52, a laid-off waitress who joined the May Day rally, had a different perspective. She had never been to a demonstration because she saw them as a waste of time, she told the Dallas Morning News. But the restaurant she worked at closed in March because of rising interest rates and she has not found work since then. "Today," she said, "I thought I'd show up and at least vent my anger."

Pointing to the swelling crowd at the Zócalo, Solís said, "They're all people like me, unemployed. But I tell you, we'd rather die fighting proud than to die of hunger or on our knees."  
 
 
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