From left to right: Julieta Mónica Morales, general secretary of the Mexican Workers’ Union League; Imelda Jiménez, Los Mineros union secretary for political affairs; Abelina Ramírez, general secretary of National Democratic Independent Union of Farm Workers (SINDJA); Rosario Moreno, general secretary of Independent National Union of Workers in Industries and Services (SNITIS). Credit: Solidarity Center/Ulises Vidal
The Solidarity Center and our allies in Mexico work to strengthen the organizing and bargaining capacity of unions and grassroots organizations and to empower workers, especially women, to stand up for their rights at work, at home and in their communities.
One of the biggest obstacles to freedom of association for workers in Mexico is the prevalence of “employer protection contracts,” which prevent creation of truly representative unions. Protection contracts, which comprise nearly all union contracts, are negotiated without the knowledge and/or consent of workers and are often in place in a factory before workers are hired.
Despite the obstacles, a handful of independent grassroots worker organizations has emerged. The Solidarity Center provides training and support for domestic workers, who formed the country’s first domestic worker union and gained unprecedented legal rights in Mexico’s constitution.
Mexico’s stubbornly low wages and its complex industrial-relations system that denies workers their right to freedom of association and robs them of the ability to demand better wages and working conditions were front and center at a House Ways and Means subcommittee...
Legislation requiring written contracts, paid vacation and annual bonuses for domestic workers passed Mexico’s House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The landmark law, which also prohibits employers from hiring...
When thousands of farmworkers from Mexico’s coastal state of Baja California waged a 12-week strike in 2015 to protest poverty wages—roughly $4 a day—and poor working conditions like lack of access to water, Abelina Ramírez saw her chance to ensure women’s concerns,...
