Mexico Weekly / April 11, 2011
Clashes between members of the electrical workers' union and riot police in central Mexico City on Monday left five cars incinerated and several people injured.
Television footage shot early Monday showed members of the SME electrical workers union (SME) confronting capital officers and riot police outside the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) headquarters. At least eight people were arrested.
The SME was holding demonstrations to mark the 18-month anniversary of the dissolution of the Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC) power company by President Calderón.
About 16,000 of the total 43,000 SME members have refused to accept severance payments. The CFE took over LFC operations to become the country's only state-owned power company.
In a nationally televised address on Oct. 11, 2009, President Calderón said the decree to disband the state-owned company was a result of its spiraling financial losses and its inefficiency.
However, the CFE might not be as efficient as the federal government claims.
According to a Chamber of Deputies study released earlier this year, the CFE generated less electricity in 2009 but spent more to purchase power from private companies.
'Vandalism Won’t Be Tolerated’
Following Monday’s clashes, SME members marched toward the Zócalo to demand that several members who were arrested in the incident be released.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said vandalism would not be tolerated.
“This was a very serious error and we aren’t going to allow this to happen in the city,” Ebrard said, according to El Universal.
City officials predict SME demonstrations will continue. SME-led protests and blockades in Mexico City have become a common occurrence since the LFC was dissolved, and are likely to continue indefinitely.
Electrical workers are not the only ones at odds with the federal government.
In 2007, the Miners and Metal Workers Union went on strike at the Cananea mine in Sonora allegedly over mine owner Grupo México’s refusal to remedy health and safety hazards. However, in June 2010 hundreds of federal and state police invaded the mine and ended the nearly three-year-long strike.
Both unions have been fractured amid internal power struggles.
SME members are fighting union leader Martín Esparza's grab for greater power, and the miners union is divided by Napoleon Gómez Urrutia’s leadership such that dissident unions have gained ground.
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