Please take a few minutes to voice your concerns over the Mexican government's heavy handed decision to send thousands of Federal Police to the Central Light and Power Company and announcing that the state-owned company was being liquidated and its 40,000 unionized workers dismissed.

On Saturday, October 10, thousands of Mexican Federal Police seized control of hundreds of installations of the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (Luz y Fuerza del Centro), which supplies electricity to Mexico City and several neighbouring states.

Minutes later the government of Felipe Calderon announced that the company was being liquidated and the 40,000 unionized workers dismissed. If allowed to stand, the government’s decree could lead not only to the privatization of the country’s electrical industry, but also to the destruction of the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME) and elimination of its members’ collective agreement and pension benefits for 15,000 retirees.

The SME is one of Mexico’s oldest independent trade union organizations with one of the best collective agreements in the country. It has been playing a leading role in the fight against privatization, proposed regressive reforms to the Federal Labour Law, and other neoliberal policies. Its destruction would therefore represent a major setback for Mexico’s independent labour movement and for all Mexican workers.

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