Mexican workers fight crisis, austerity

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12 SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 1986 MEXICO CITY-Tens of thousands of Mexican workers have marched and demonstrated in the last month for higher wages, for union democracy, and against the govemment's economic policies and the austerity programs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 workers in 100 independent unions, led by the electrical workers in the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME) marched to the Zocalo, the national palace, on Jan. 29. They chanted slogans critical of the government and the foreign banks.

Then, on Feb. 6, there was another demonstration-this time of some 122 organizations of workers, peasants and poor people, in which 14,000 people participated. That demonstration called for repudiation of the foreign debt.

The demonstrations may mark a resurgence of the Mexican labor movement after three years of defeat and demoralization. After a strike wave in 1982 led by the teachers, unions suffered a series of defeats and the debilitating effects of inflation.

Now, things seem to be moving again, though there isn't a big strike wave yet. The government, the employers, and the union bureaucracy (called the "charros" here) still have the upper hand. But there are some signs that the worker militancy goes beyond the demonstrations and marches.

One of the most important movements is among the teachers in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. The primary and secondary school teachers in Oaxaca have been on strike since Jan. 16 against the union bureaucracy and for a democratic state union convention.

Dozens have participated in a hunger strike and about 1000 marched the 555 kilometers from the state capital in Oaxaca to Mexico City. They remain camped in the patio of the national cathedral at night. During the day they go out to speak to other workers at schools, offices and factories about their fight for union democracy collections support.

The teachers have repeatedly marched and demonstrated in front of the union headquarters (the FNTE, National Union of Educational Workers, or Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Educacion) and in front of government offices. They are planning to bring all 34,000 teachers in Oaxaca to the capital if their demands for a democratic union convention aren't met.

They continue this fight despite the fact that some of their leaders have been assassinated, presumably by the union bureaucrats. In addition, there are several other small struggles like the long strike by the steelworkers in Chihuahua, which has been going on now for months, and small strikes by a new union of seamstresses.

One of the important movement may be the electrical workers' contract which expires in early March. SME is seeking a wage increase of over 85 percent while the government and the employers and union officials have generallly tried to keep wage increases to 34 percent.

Still, these small battles are only a beginning if the workers are to protect their wages and standard of living-much less change national policy and challenge the International Monetary Fund, which is, after all, to challenge the capitalist system.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the state unions, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) and the Union Federation of State Employees (FSTFE), still control the labor movement. The independent unions which were able to get together for the demonstrations on Jan. 29 and Feb. 6 have not yet been able to organize a coordinated offensive against the labor bureaucracy, big business, and the government.

If the movement of the independent unions grows in militancy once again as it did in 1982, this will increase the general level of worker militancy and have a salutary effect on the Mexican class strug -gle as a whole.