2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Mexico

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 4

Steel company dismisses striking workers:

CB&I Matamoros carried out mass dismissals in Mexico after 350 workers went on strike on 3 June 2014 for better working conditions. The workers' main demand is for the company to comply with ILO Convention 87 and respect their decision to join the Mexican Miners' and Metalworkers' Union (SNTMMSRM).

InBev violates workers' rights in Mexico:

Thirty three workers continue to insist on reinstatement to their former jobs and their rights fully restored. These 33 workers who have been fighting for justice since 2008 won reinstatement at Industria Vidriera del Potosí (a subsidiary of Grupo Modelo-AB InBev) as a result of the ruling of the Conciliation and Arbitration Board at the beginning of April 2014.

On 26 January 2008, Vidriera sacked 220 workers including the entire executive committee of the IndustriALL-affiliated glass workers' union (SUTEIVP). They did so following the negotiated agreement of a 19% wage increase by this independent union.

Workers currently face huge hardship as a result of the company's actions including "company blacklisting" and complicit local labour authorities making it practically impossible for dismissed workers and their families to find work locally and in other regions of Mexico.

Teksid workers ambushed and beaten up:

Workers at Teksid Hierro in Monclova, Ciudad Frontera, Coahuila, Mexico, part of the Fiat Chrysler Group, are fighting back against abusive reprisals for organising. Three workers, Marisol Ruiz Moreno, Orlando Mendoza Guardiola and Oscar Arturo Rodríguez Ponce, were sacked on 18 April and 11 more were beaten by 80-100 hired thugs, while coming out of a meeting with management and labour authorities on 21 April 2014.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.