Tell Alcoa to Obey the Law! Urgent Action to Support Mexican Alcoa Workers

Your help is needed to support Alcoa workers in Piedras Negras.  This campaign has been called by the Comité Fronterizo de Obrera(o)s a grassroots movement of workers in the maquiladora plants that line the Mexico-U.S. border. Please take immediate action to show your support! Alcoa - an industry giant with more than 129,000 workers in 38 countries - is using illegal and immoral tactics to harass and intimidate nearly 17,000 workers in Piedras Negras and the nearby town of Ciudad Acuña. For over a year, Alcoa has resorted to threats, interference in union elections, video surveillance of workers inside and outside the plant, and similar tactics aimed at undermining worker organizing. The last straw came on Oct. 4, when the company fired 20 workers from two different plants, many of them rank-and-file leaders of an ongoing campaign to organize an independent union.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: I demand Alcoa stop breaking the law

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Alain Belda Chairman and CEO, Alcoa Inc. 201 Isabella Stret Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Dear Mr. Belda:

The management of Alcoa Fujikura Ltd. in Piedras Negras, Mexico, is violating the right of its Mexican employees to join the union of their choice. These acts are contrary to Mexican labor law, the Mexican constitution, and the Mission, Principles and Values of Alcoa. They also violate the internationally recognized human right to freedom of association.

Such violations include the firing of union activists and other workers, as well as the intimidation of workers inside and outside Alcoa's plants. Your employees in Piedras Negras and neighboring Ciudad Acuna have been forced to protest the severe deterioration in their salaries and working conditions resulting from your efforts to reduce costs by $1 billion by 2003. It is unfair for these cost reductions to fall most heavily on the shoulders of your Mexican employees.

We ask you to put a stop to these abuses, to order the reinstatement of the fired workers in Piedras Negras, and to replace the two managers who are causing the most serious damage to the reputation of your company: Mr. Paulino Vargas and Mr. Jose Juan Ortiz, general manager and manager of human resources, respectively. We urge you to act immediately.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
October 21, 2002


Background Information

With the help of the CFO, Alcoa workers have been working for nearly a decade to win improvements in their wages and working conditions. Last March, their movement won a historic victory by electing a rank-and-file slate to the plant-level “sectional committee” at Plant #2 in Piedras Negras. Before the firings, a rank-and-file slate at Plant #1was poised to win an upcoming election. In addition, workers at both plants are seeking to organize a legally recognized independent union — a major step in Mexico, where entrenched “official” union leadership is unresponsive and often corrupt. All of these tactics are intended to break the back of the rank-and-file movement — and with it to break the back of union democracy at the border.

Alcoa wants to cut $1 billion in costs by 2003. In its plants at the border, it has tried to achieve this goal by slashing benefits and signing “sweetheart” contracts that roll back worker gains. These measures target workers who are already laboring for below-poverty wages.

Alcoa’s actions violate Mexican labor law and the Mexican constitution, both of which guarantee freedom of association, including the right of workers to democratically choose their own unions. They also violate the company’s own statements, which affirm Alcoa’s support for freedom of association and other human rights. Alcoa is very proud of its reputation as a socially responsible corporation. They need to learn that their reputation will be based on their actions, and not on empty words.

The Alcoa workers are making three specific demands:

  1. Reinstatement of the fired workers;
  2. A complete end to the intimidation of workers, inside and outside the plant;
  3. Replacement of the two company officials who have done the most to poison the atmosphere in Piedras Negras: general manager Paulino Vargas and human resource manager José Juan Ortiz.