LEN COOPER Sindicato de Trabajadores de las Telecomunicaciones Australia President Felipe Calderόn Mexico By email: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Dear President Calderόn
We, in Australia, are aware of your government’s involvement in the seizure of power plants, the sacking of 45,000 workers and of the protests on Mexican streets by trade unionists and other concerned citizens, in response to these actions.
We also understand that, in seizing those plants, the Federal Police have been used by your government as an occupying force and are known for their heavy-handed tactics and aggression towards workers.
The protests by sacked workers and trade unionists is justified, understood and supported by this Union. Your government’s actions are neither of these things, and we respectfully request that negotiations with the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union take place as a matter of urgency. This would best be done in a calm atmosphere with the police removed from the plants, and the liquidation of the companies revoked pending the outcome of these discussions.
In this way, the Calderόn Government can show appropriate regard for international labour and human rights and take a forward step in labour relations in Mexico, not a retrograde one which poisons relationships for many years. Yours faithfully
LEN COOPER Divisional President CEPU Communications Union Email: lencoop@iinet.net.au