ckaihatsu
4th October 2016, 13:44
Striking Healthcare Workers in Chiapas (Mexico) Need Our Urgent Support!
On Sunday, September 25, an estimated 300 trade unionists and activists gathered at a rally in the auditorium of the Palenque (Chiapas) chapter of Section 50 of the National Healthcare Workers Union of Mexico (SNTSSA). The Palenque chapter and the local chapters in three other cities in the state of Chiapas have been out on strike for 126 days to demand a halt to the healthcare "counter-reform" law aimed at privatizing healthcare in Mexico.
In Palenque the implementation of this law has led to the drastic reduction of medicines and medical supplies for patients, with the request that patients help cover the costs of these scarce items -- when all healthcare at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and at ISSSTE (for government workers) has been free up till now.
The striking healthcare workers were joined by public school teachers from Section 40 of the National Teachers Union, or SNTE-CNTE. Nine speakers addressed the gathering, including Russell Aguilar Brindis, who is well known in Palenque and throughout Chiapas as one of the founders of the national CNTE dissident wing of the teachers' union. The CNTE is the leadership of the union in four states and has large caucuses in all other states across Mexico.
Also, among those assembled was a contingent of Ch'ol indigenous people from the "comunidades de base." As a result of the healthcare "counter-reform," they have received no medicines or supplies for the past six months at their outposts, and their children are dying. Many of them walked up to six hours to the main roads, where they took buses or jumped on trucks to get to the rally.
The situation facing the striking healthcare workers in the Palenque region is dire. Nine workers have been fired for waging an "illegal work stoppage." Forty-five others have had their bimonthly wages terminated. And the state government is threatening to fire large numbers of other workers, and to stop all wage payments, if the workers don't put an end to their strike.
A Rich and Far-Reaching Discussion
Alan Benjamin, a trade union activists from the United States and member of the Organizing Committee of the Mumbai Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor, was invited to address the Palenque rally as a keynote speaker. He explained the fundamental problems with the U.S. healthcare system, which is based on the U.S. private-insurance model. The Mexican government, in the name of "healthcare reform" and the creation of "universal healthcare," is seeking to impose the U.S. model and to destroy the Mexican public healthcare system.
Because the rally participants were convinced that only the working class, at a national and international level, is capable of forcing the bosses and the government to bend to their demands, the assembly issued an International Appeal addressed to workers and their organizations in Mexico and internationally, calling on them to support the struggle of the healthcare workers in Chiapas. [See appeal below.]
In the rally speeches and in the discussion that ensued, many speakers commented on the agreement recently reached between the federal government and the CNTE teachers' union after four months of strike. This was a militant strike against the privatization of public education waged in four states across Mexico (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Michoacán) that was violently repressed by the authorities, most notably in the Oaxacan town of Nochixtlán, where 13 teachers and supporters were killed and dozens were injured by the army and police.
The 11-point agreement includes the decision to not implement the education "reform" until after 2018, when a new president is to take office. Other points include hiring more teachers, increasing the education budget, freeing all detained teachers, dropping all legal and other charges against the striking teachers and concerned parents, and creating "round-tables" with the union to discuss ways to "improve" the proposed education "counter-reform." This last point was hotly contested by many of the participants in the rally, as it would involve having the union forfeit its independence and accept the basic framework of the education "counter-reform."
It is precisely because the question of the independence of the trade unions was posed that the participants in the Palenque rally agreed to endorse the Mumbai Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor and to mandate a representative of the rally to attend the conference in Mumbai. The rally chair noted that the Mexican delegation to Mumbai was being put together from within the struggles and mobilizations of the workers and their community allies.
* * * * * * * * * *
International Appeal from Palenque
To the trade unions and community organizations in Mexico and the world over,
To all workers in the healthcare sector worldwide:
On May 23, 2016, in the region of Palenque, Chiapas (Mexico) -- just as in other regions of Chiapas -- healthcare workers of Section 50 of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (SNTSSA) began a strike against the misnamed "reform" of the national healthcare system.
During the past 126 days, around 350 Palenque healthcare workers (65% of whom are women) have waged a hard-fought struggle in support of their main demands, which are:
* proper provisioning of medicines and medical supplies in the hospitals and outposts to the indigenous communities;
* no to the theft by the state authorities of monies that should be going into the workers' retirement plans (and the repayment of all stolen funds);
* the reinstatement of the nine workers who were fired for going out on strike; and
* the back-payment of wages withheld to 45 workers for striking and simply defending the right to healthcare that is enshrined in the Mexican Constitution.
The 126 days of struggle have shown that the path of mobilization is the most effective path. The recent mobilizations initiated by 400 healthcare workers in the region of Comitan, and the recent occupation of the offices of the Ministry of Health in Tuxtla Gutierrez, only underscore this point.
During the 126-day strike, we have understood the need to build instruments to promote our unity and our struggle to oppose and/or repeal all the government "counter-reforms" that destroy our rights and gains. This is why we support the call by the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME) and many others to build a new Trade Union Federation (Nueva Central de Trabajadores).
This is also why, having been informed about the Call for a World Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor in Mumbai, India, we have decided to support this call.
Our International Appeal from Palenque is addressed to political, trade union and community organizations and activists throughout the world. It is addressed to all who defend healthcare as a right -- which for us means full access to medicines and care in hospitals and clinics, the reinstatement of all fired healthcare workers, and the repayment of back wages and retirement funds to all the healthcare workers in the Palenque region of Chiapas.
We call on all of you to endorse this International Appeal from Palenque. We will be sending it, with all the names of individuals and organizations gathered from around the world, to Lic. Manuel Velasco Coello (State Governor of Chiapas), Dr. José Narro Robles (Minister of Health of Mexico) and Dr. Francisco Ortega Farera (Minister of Health of the state of Chiapas).
Please send your endorsement of this Appeal to Lic. Saul Alejandro Hernandez Nucamendi (email: [email protected]), with copies to Russell Aguilar Brindis (email: [email protected]) and Nambiath Vasudevan (email: [email protected]).
-- Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, September 25, 2016
On Sunday, September 25, an estimated 300 trade unionists and activists gathered at a rally in the auditorium of the Palenque (Chiapas) chapter of Section 50 of the National Healthcare Workers Union of Mexico (SNTSSA). The Palenque chapter and the local chapters in three other cities in the state of Chiapas have been out on strike for 126 days to demand a halt to the healthcare "counter-reform" law aimed at privatizing healthcare in Mexico.
In Palenque the implementation of this law has led to the drastic reduction of medicines and medical supplies for patients, with the request that patients help cover the costs of these scarce items -- when all healthcare at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and at ISSSTE (for government workers) has been free up till now.
The striking healthcare workers were joined by public school teachers from Section 40 of the National Teachers Union, or SNTE-CNTE. Nine speakers addressed the gathering, including Russell Aguilar Brindis, who is well known in Palenque and throughout Chiapas as one of the founders of the national CNTE dissident wing of the teachers' union. The CNTE is the leadership of the union in four states and has large caucuses in all other states across Mexico.
Also, among those assembled was a contingent of Ch'ol indigenous people from the "comunidades de base." As a result of the healthcare "counter-reform," they have received no medicines or supplies for the past six months at their outposts, and their children are dying. Many of them walked up to six hours to the main roads, where they took buses or jumped on trucks to get to the rally.
The situation facing the striking healthcare workers in the Palenque region is dire. Nine workers have been fired for waging an "illegal work stoppage." Forty-five others have had their bimonthly wages terminated. And the state government is threatening to fire large numbers of other workers, and to stop all wage payments, if the workers don't put an end to their strike.
A Rich and Far-Reaching Discussion
Alan Benjamin, a trade union activists from the United States and member of the Organizing Committee of the Mumbai Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor, was invited to address the Palenque rally as a keynote speaker. He explained the fundamental problems with the U.S. healthcare system, which is based on the U.S. private-insurance model. The Mexican government, in the name of "healthcare reform" and the creation of "universal healthcare," is seeking to impose the U.S. model and to destroy the Mexican public healthcare system.
Because the rally participants were convinced that only the working class, at a national and international level, is capable of forcing the bosses and the government to bend to their demands, the assembly issued an International Appeal addressed to workers and their organizations in Mexico and internationally, calling on them to support the struggle of the healthcare workers in Chiapas. [See appeal below.]
In the rally speeches and in the discussion that ensued, many speakers commented on the agreement recently reached between the federal government and the CNTE teachers' union after four months of strike. This was a militant strike against the privatization of public education waged in four states across Mexico (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Michoacán) that was violently repressed by the authorities, most notably in the Oaxacan town of Nochixtlán, where 13 teachers and supporters were killed and dozens were injured by the army and police.
The 11-point agreement includes the decision to not implement the education "reform" until after 2018, when a new president is to take office. Other points include hiring more teachers, increasing the education budget, freeing all detained teachers, dropping all legal and other charges against the striking teachers and concerned parents, and creating "round-tables" with the union to discuss ways to "improve" the proposed education "counter-reform." This last point was hotly contested by many of the participants in the rally, as it would involve having the union forfeit its independence and accept the basic framework of the education "counter-reform."
It is precisely because the question of the independence of the trade unions was posed that the participants in the Palenque rally agreed to endorse the Mumbai Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor and to mandate a representative of the rally to attend the conference in Mumbai. The rally chair noted that the Mexican delegation to Mumbai was being put together from within the struggles and mobilizations of the workers and their community allies.
* * * * * * * * * *
International Appeal from Palenque
To the trade unions and community organizations in Mexico and the world over,
To all workers in the healthcare sector worldwide:
On May 23, 2016, in the region of Palenque, Chiapas (Mexico) -- just as in other regions of Chiapas -- healthcare workers of Section 50 of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (SNTSSA) began a strike against the misnamed "reform" of the national healthcare system.
During the past 126 days, around 350 Palenque healthcare workers (65% of whom are women) have waged a hard-fought struggle in support of their main demands, which are:
* proper provisioning of medicines and medical supplies in the hospitals and outposts to the indigenous communities;
* no to the theft by the state authorities of monies that should be going into the workers' retirement plans (and the repayment of all stolen funds);
* the reinstatement of the nine workers who were fired for going out on strike; and
* the back-payment of wages withheld to 45 workers for striking and simply defending the right to healthcare that is enshrined in the Mexican Constitution.
The 126 days of struggle have shown that the path of mobilization is the most effective path. The recent mobilizations initiated by 400 healthcare workers in the region of Comitan, and the recent occupation of the offices of the Ministry of Health in Tuxtla Gutierrez, only underscore this point.
During the 126-day strike, we have understood the need to build instruments to promote our unity and our struggle to oppose and/or repeal all the government "counter-reforms" that destroy our rights and gains. This is why we support the call by the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME) and many others to build a new Trade Union Federation (Nueva Central de Trabajadores).
This is also why, having been informed about the Call for a World Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labor in Mumbai, India, we have decided to support this call.
Our International Appeal from Palenque is addressed to political, trade union and community organizations and activists throughout the world. It is addressed to all who defend healthcare as a right -- which for us means full access to medicines and care in hospitals and clinics, the reinstatement of all fired healthcare workers, and the repayment of back wages and retirement funds to all the healthcare workers in the Palenque region of Chiapas.
We call on all of you to endorse this International Appeal from Palenque. We will be sending it, with all the names of individuals and organizations gathered from around the world, to Lic. Manuel Velasco Coello (State Governor of Chiapas), Dr. José Narro Robles (Minister of Health of Mexico) and Dr. Francisco Ortega Farera (Minister of Health of the state of Chiapas).
Please send your endorsement of this Appeal to Lic. Saul Alejandro Hernandez Nucamendi (email: [email protected]), with copies to Russell Aguilar Brindis (email: [email protected]) and Nambiath Vasudevan (email: [email protected]).
-- Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, September 25, 2016