The attacks have included arbitrarily withdrawing legal recognition from Gómez and other elected leaders, based on forged evidence, and filing baseless criminal charges, disproved by an audit of the union’s finances by an international auditing company.

Other actions included: deploying military and security forces against the union, resulting in the deaths of three union members; granting overnight recognition to a pro-company union and holding “elections” in which workers were forced to vote publically in front of company officials; refusing to punish the Grupo Mexico officials responsible for the deaths of 65 miners in the explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in February 2006.

In addition, there are serious allegations that Grupo Mexico maybe behind the recent murder of Reinaldo Hernández González, and the detention and torture of 20 SNTMMSRM members in Nacozari, Sonora State, Mexico.

Eu-Mexican relations are characterised by close political dialogue and are governed by a global agreement signed in 1997 and in force since 2000. The agreement is based on the acknowledgement of democratic principles and respect for human rights.

Despite this the activities carried out by Grupo and the Calderon Government flagrantly violate international human rights established by the International Labour Organisation and the principles contained in the EU-Mexico agreement.

Juan Luis Zuniga, one of the delegation and member of SNTMMSRM National Committee, will call on Parliamentary members to use a forthcoming EU-Mexico joint parliamentary delegation in Brussels to end these attacks. He explained “We have come to Europe to ask for your help in ending these repeated attacks, we would like assurances from the Mexican government that the persecution of trade union leaders will stop and that Mexican workers can enjoy basic human rights”

International Metalworkers’ Federation Director of Union Building and Projects Fernando Lopes, who is with the Mexican delegation, added, “In the past few years the EU-Mexico have established a close and long lasting relationship, we would like to see that relationship used not just for economic co-operation but furthering social justice and human rights. To do this the Mexican government must hold Grupo Mexico to account.”

Ends

More Information

· Total bilateral trade exceeded 42 billion dollars in 2006, an increase of 39% in two years, with Mexican exports growing 57%.

· The EU-Mexican joint parliamentary delegation is meeting on 27th November in Brussels. The Chair of that delegation for the European Parliament is Erika Mann.

· EU-Mexico relations are governed by the Economic Partnership, Political Co-operation and Co-operation Agreement signed in 1997 and in force since 2000.

· Grupo Mexico has 18,931 employees, supplies 87.5% of Mexico’s copper and is the world’s third largest copper producer.

· Napoleón Gómez Urrutia General Secretary of the SNTMMSRM is currently living in Canada, while trying to clear his name and assure his personal safety in Mexico.

· On 19 February 2006, a methane explosion occurred in the number 8 shaft of the Pasta de Conchos mine owned by Grupo Mexico, the largest and most powerful mining company in the country. Gómez spoke out against the company and called it “industrial homicide” for neglecting health and safety standards at the mine.

· Following the mine disaster, in March 2006, the Mexican government used falsified documents to remove Gómez from his position and imposed a new general secretary. Furthermore, Grupo Mexico in collusion with the Mexican government used falsified documents to launch a baseless investigation accusing Napoleón Gómez Urrutia of embezzling an unspecified amount from the $55 million fund owned by the union. This charge was disproved by a recent independent audit report. The findings of this report prove unequivocally that those charges were unfounded and fraudulent.

· The International Metalworkers’ Federation is a global union federation representing 25 million members in over 100 countries.

Further background is also available on the IMF website.

Press contacts

For more information contact Anita Gardner, IMF Communications Director, direct line +41 (0)22 308 5032, Mobile +41 (0) 79 815 7251, Email:agardner@imfmetal.org