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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