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Workers Joined Hands from Canada to Mexico

Gepubliceerd op 19 okt, 2009
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UAW workers Local 174 joined TRW workers from Reynosa, Mexico, to march a picket line united, stopping traffic on the US -Mexico border!
Protests in Detroit and Windsor, Canada, another cross border solidarity action!

 
Free Trade has taken away jobs and reduced a stable standard of living for workers to a dream.
Governments have bailed out corporations, while workers like those at TRW suffer massive layoffs
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Free Trade is no longer an option
 
 PLEASE TAKE ACTION TO KEEP OUR DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
 
  • Write a letter to President Obama demanding NAFTA renegotiation and
  • Write to TRW headquarters demanding TRW accountability  
  • Support the TRW workers struggle
 
On October 5th, sixteen brave women and men, members of UAW Local 174 from Romulus, Michigan, traveled twenty-eight hours to demonstrate against NAFTA at the international bridge of Hidalgo/Mcallen, Texas, and show their support for the TRW workers struggle in Reynosa, Mexico.  Members of the IWW Rio Grande Valley and their families joined the demonstrations. The police arrived but instead of blocking the protest or harassing them, they respected the demonstration. The demonstration got full media coverage.
 
Please see the following links:
 
Meanwhile on the Mexican side nearby, 200 workers from TRW protested against this corporation, which is trying to transfer workers to a warehouse that cannot accommodate that number of workers, where neither transportation nor childcare are available, and where salaries are lower.   The workers also protested against NAFTA free trade and its policies. The police surrounded and tried to intimidate them but workers endured the police threats and harassments and kept protesting.  
 
Please see the following links:
 
In Detroit, the Centro Obrero and its supporters and members from UAW Local 174 also protested at the International Bridge Ambassador. IWW members protested in Windsor Canada, in support of TRW workers and against NAFTA free Trade as well. CJM got a phone report from the organizers.
The members of UAW Local 174 from Michigan protested again the next day, on Tuesday, October 6, at the Veterans International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas. They blocked the bridge and after a while the police arrived threatening to arrest them if they didn’t stop blocking traffic.  Please see the following links: Protest in Brownsville
The UAW Local 174 members returned to Michigan, proud that they had accomplished their mission of raising their voices against NAFTA Free Trade and in solidarity with TRW workers.
The most inspiring moment was when George Hardey, First Vice President of Local 174, and members of the UAW, crossed the border to meet with the TRW workers from Reynosa, Mexico, to show them solidarity support. Please see the following link:  UAW & TRW Workers
Officials of the local municipal government arrived and invited CJM’s Executive Director to meet with the secretary of the governor to find a solution to the TRW workers situation. But CJM’s Executive Director encouraged them to meet instead with TRW workers, which they did.  TRW insisted that workers affiliate themselves with the CTM corporate union, but the workers demanded that TRW recognize the Workers Coalition that they formed according to Mexican Labor Law, and that TRWnegotiate directly with the Workers Coalition.
 
 
Meanwhile, Ernesto Lizcano of the TRW Workers Coalition and Israel Monroy of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras continue their tour of the U.S., generating support for the TRW workers - from Detroit to San Diego!