If we don’t reach a negotiation, the Telmex workers are going to have to mobilize; we are going to have to strike and sacrifice ourselves. In the event of a strike there are always sacrifices to be made. Going on strike means not getting paid; we are not businessmen, we are workers; We live on a weekly salary. If we go on strike it will be hard, because how do I pay my credit card or the rent for my house, or how do I buy medicine for my children? We would experience a series of circumstances that are analyzed and give a bit of resentment, of fear, but if we don’t do it they will disappear from us”.
-A fellow telephone operator
There is an issue of great relevance at the national level that strangely has not received the media attention it deserves or that would be expected given its importance. It is about the possible strike in the company Telephones of Mexico (Telmex), owned by Ing. Carlos Slim Helú and managed by various members of his family. Slim has owned the company since December 9, 1990, when he acquired it through a public auction during Carlos’ six-year term. Gortari salt flats. Thus he soon became the richest and most powerful man in Mexico, becoming, at some point, “the richest man in the world.”
Luck Slim’s extraordinary ability to acquire the Mexican telephone monopoly is reinforced by his great expertise as a negotiator within the telecommunications industry, with the governments in power (of all colors and ideologies) and with their organized workers. The tycoon has always gotten along relatively well with everyone, especially with the Mexican public authorities and the political elite, who have allowed him to operate with complete freedom and privilege without questioning him, accepting his support in campaigns and forgiving him taxes—yes, by law, derived from his “philanthropy”.
The relationship between Slim and the Telephone Operators Union of the Mexican Republic (STRM), which is actually the Telmex union, has been relatively good, although it has not been exempt from tensions or risks of rupture. However, in recent years—and mainly during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto—the deterioration has been visible. Today, the relationship between Telmex and its union is perhaps experiencing one of its most critical moments. The workers of the Mexican telephone company receive fair wages and benefits that are considered decent, including a pension that allows them to live with dignity for the rest of their lives.
Personally, I think the labor situation of Telmex’s unionized workers is appropriate and I think a negotiation that always benefit them. I would expect that from all the workers in Mexico and the world. The achievements of the Telmex union should be extended, at least, to all workers in the Mexican Republic in all industries; Of course, this should go hand in hand with clear rules for both parties and a greater commitment on the part of the workforce. It is clear that the extraordinary benefits received by the Slim family are due to their workers and to Mr. Slim Helú’s luck in being chosen by the former president of Salinas de Gortari to acquire the most profitable monopoly company in the country (for a private) of all time. In other words, Carlos Slim was chosen to become the richest man in Mexico.
It seems that Engineer Slim Helú understood it very well and committed himself, since Telmex was privatized, to respect the collective bargaining agreement. He seems to have understood the importance of maintaining a moderately affable relationship with his union. And so it was for several years. The structural economic reforms—also called neoliberal reforms—annihilated the union movement in Mexico and the rest of the world, but the Telmex union resisted for obvious reasons and because of its superlative power in an oligopolistic telecommunications industry in which Ing. Slim is the most relevant and could not survive without its workers—who, unfortunately for the owner’s family, remain united and fight for their rights.
The last two administrations were especially complicated for the trade union movement of telephone operators in Mexico. According to what my colleagues report to me, there were important violations of the collective bargaining agreement during the government of Felipe Calderón—when he was Secretary of Labor, none other than Javier Lozano Alarcón. Those were the times of Genaro García Luna and his Mexico Platform, when the Secretary of Public Security and the Mexican telephone company operated jointly under the leadership of Héctor Slim Seade. The latter seemed to have a good relationship with the man who is now awaiting trial in a maximum security prison in New York for his alleged links to organized crime, in particular the Sinaloa Cartel.
But the worst moment for the union before the current crisis was at the time of the Pact for Mexico of former President Enrique Peña Nieto, from the reform of the article 28 constitutional law on telecommunications and economic competition—under which the Federal Commission for Economic Competition (Cofece) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) were created. As in other sectors, the creation of these “autonomous” organizations clearly favored transnational private capital. The advance of companies such as AT&T was overwhelming in this period, in which figures such as Alejandra Lagunes and Mónica Aspe acquired particular relevance, who used the well-known “revolving doors” between the public sector and private industry (especially the latter) and contributed to the advance of big transnational capital in the telecommunications sector.
During this period, the Telmex workers fought an arduous battle to avoid the dismantling of their union and the loss of their benefits and allowances for changes made in the structure of the company—which seemed to have taken the case of British Telecom as an example. Fortunately, the telephone operators managed to maintain their organization in the difficult years from 2013 to 2017, when the Slim family and some of its partners or allies were advancing towards a crafty renovation or division to break the union, as part of the global transformation of the telecommunications industry. But in the end, the union remains and makes the company respect the collective bargaining agreement under the leadership of its General Secretary, Francisco Hernández Juárez.
There are those—outside the union , of course—they question the role of Hernández Juárez and his very long tenure as Secretary General (since 1976). The years are already many; 46 to be exact. However, there are also many battles that the telephone operators have won under the guidance of the historic union leader. The base doesn’t seem to be wrong. The comrades tell me that “the support for comrade Hernández Juárez is overwhelming, although there is minimal dissidence.” There does not seem to be another leadership at the moment that can manage the demands of the telephone operators so effectively. In the STRM, the fellow workers allege the existence of truly democratic practices—despite what the critics say—and in particular the existence of the “free, secret and direct vote”.
I am not in the least surprised by the support of the working class base for Hernández Juárez, given the great achievements of this union that maintain a dignified job, including a juicy pension. And so it should be in all sectors and especially in industries in which some select individuals and privileged families acquire extraordinary profits. I think especially of the company that made what was once “the richest man in the world.” Or wouldn’t that be fair?
Slim would have been nobody without his workers and we believe that he should understand it that way. The purchase of Telcel and the worldwide expansion of his company and diversification into other markets would not have been possible without the acquisition of the Mexican telephony monopoly in the 1990s. Mr. Slim seemed to be aware of this and had maintained, according to what they tell me, a cordial—but not friendly—relationship with his workers until very recently. Agreements were reached, but there were no strikes. However, time has passed; Circumstances changed, markets were transformed, and there was an inevitable generational change.
The engineer’s family is increasingly relevant in decision-making within the company . Carlos Slim Domit (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Telmex and América Móvil), Daniel Hajj (CEO of América Móvil) and Héctor Slim (CEO of Telmex) do not seem to be in favor of union struggles and rather seem determined to make many of the labor rights that its workers had won in the past. Under a post-neoliberal scheme in which the large transnational monopolies or oligopolies dominate at the global level, their practices seem to be endorsed by other actors, who still limit competition and try to cancel the rights of workers.
In this context, there is a conflict between Telmex and its union, who They would go on strike if the company insists on not complying with the collective bargaining agreement in this last negotiation. In general terms, Telmex proposes to eliminate the clause 149 of said contract. In other words, the company seeks to “manipulate” retirement. This is something that workers cannot accept because they have excellent benefits in this area, unlike the majority of Mexican workers who adhere by force and by law to the deceitful pension scheme administered by transnational financial oligopolies.
Among the demands of the union, which to date Telmex has not wanted to accept, is a 7.5% direct salary increase and a 2.9% increase in benefits (considering the current inflation levels), in addition to covering the 2 11 vacancies with their regular retirement plan. At the same time, the desire for “non-tertiarization” is manifested, within the framework of the prohibition of the so-called “outsourcing” (or labor subcontracting) by public sector companies.
What the company wants is for the new places to be linked to the pension system of the Retirement Fund Administrators (Afore) that would pose a rather precarious retirement scheme compared to the one that exists right now. This is insulting and unacceptable, considering the very high income that the company receives in an oligopolistic sector. Thus, the fellow workers express their frustration arguing that the administrators and owners of the company “do not care who they affect as long as they continue to generate juicy profits; the more they exploit the worker and squeeze profits from him for his work, the better it is for them”. And so it can be affirmed that the members of the tycoon’s family “present themselves as philanthropists, but that they are in reality merchants”—confirming in this way, their origin and their customs.
And so the strike at Telmex is about to break out, which would represent a major problem for the economy in the country and its telecommunications. It is worth understanding that, due to the importance of the sector and its market structure, the telephone operators’ union in Mexico has had the opportunity to negotiate with—and turn the company upside down in the hands of the richest and most powerful man in Mexico. —which is also the main contractor of the Mexican government. Due to the above, the little media coverage regarding the subject is striking. The Mexican president and the government of the Fourth Transformation as a whole are at a crossroads between, 1) pleasing the most powerful businessman in the country who is a ‘friend’ of the current administration or, 2) attending to his supposed principles that have to do with the defense of the rights of the working class under the motto of “first the poor”.
In this context, at the request of the Secretary of Labor, Luisa María Alcalde, it was agreed to extend until June 7 the strike scheduled for midday on Wednesday 11 in May—; she promised to mediate in this conflict. The final result is still uncertain and we will see what the 4T government is made of in times where transnational oligopolies have the main market power in the post-neoliberal era. The negotiation that began a few days ago promises to be the most complicated that the union has had in recent times. Meanwhile, the company resorts to other practices to achieve its goals and at least weaken the powerful STRM. Then a process begins to legitimize the collective bargaining agreement of the sister company Telcel in a strategy that seems rigged. This contract is promoted by the office of a peculiar character, Ramón Salvador Gámez Martínez, who is famous for “being the king of protection contracts”, representing the so-called white unions or “paper unions” that work solely to benefit the companies, but not the workers (https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/2005/pederastas-plaza-publica. html). Gámez Martínez also seems to have been linked to pederasty scandals and his name is related to the material in the book by journalist Lydia Chacho entitled: The demons of Eden. The power that protects child pornography (Grijalbo, 2005).
Note final:
The potential Telmex strike raises serious questions about the future not only of the STRM, but of Mexican unionism as a whole and makes us think of many of the corporate practices to break unionism and the strategies directed by big capital to buy leadership and create unions that respond only to the interests of businessmen. On another occasion, it is also convenient for us to analyze the tricky role of the large foreign labor unions that under the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) supposedly represent international labor solidarity, but that in reality contribute to the advancement of the oligarchy and of big transnational capital supported by legislators and politicians from the Global North.
In the same way, in a later installment, we will analyze the role of lawyers who are not workers and pretend to be union leaders (remember someone like that?). From experience we learned that they “usually become workers’ corporations and those law firms never take long to sell themselves to the boss.” We will give interesting examples of what could happen in the north of the country with the “new independent unions” in the maquiladora sector.
A massive trade union movement is required (at the national level and far from the trap of supposed imperialist solidarity) that does not divide workers into “cliques”— attending to the trap of pluralism that divides tiny interest groups for the benefit of big transnational capital. What is required is a true class organization that makes it possible for workers to shut down entire industries so that they can, as a group, exercise real power over their workforce.in the post-neoliberal era.
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera. Professor-researcher of Politics and Government, specialist in security issues, border studies and Mexico-United States relations. Author of Los Zetas Inc.