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Mexico has both employer-controlled sham unions and real unions. While there is certainly tension between US and Mexican workers you overstate the situation. U

Mexico has both employer-controlled sham unions and real unions. While there is certainly tension between US and Mexican workers you overstate the situation. US unions would like Mexico to have strong unions both out of sympathy and self-interest. The more protections Mexican workers have the less attractive it is to move jobs from the US to Mexico. US unions successfully fought to include pro-union provisions in the USMCA (Trump's NAFTA "renegotiation"). They're using those provisions to help Mexican workers form real unions and defeat the sham employer unions. We don't yet have much experience with how these provisions will work out, but there have been limited early successes. See for ex https://apnews.com/article/biden-labor-unions-united-states-government-caribbean-mexico-865577c8f3115f9e0bb243b79105e80b https://apnews.com/article/biden-labor-unions-united-states-...

pyuser583 3y ago
I was thinking more of this: https://jacobin.com/2016/08/mexico-teacher-union-strikes-oaxaca/ https://jacobin.com/2016/08/mexico-teacher-union-strikes-oax... Describing the prosecution of the head of the teachers union in 2013: > Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam charged Gordillo with money laundering, saying she had used the union funds to pay for airplanes, pilot training, her plastic surgeries, and purchases of luxury items in the United States. Juan Díaz de la Torre, who was a loyal member of her union caucus, became head of the union. > While Gordillo was very likely guilty of the embezzlement of which she was accused, such practices are common in the Mexican labor bureaucracy. The motive for jailing her was political: first she had betrayed the PRI, and then she had opposed Peña Nieto. The part about “such practices are common in the labor bureaucracy” is telling. Corruption is so common, that any prosecution can (accurately!) be labeled political is one of the best signs of a corrupt system. This isn’t about an employer controlled union. The union is heavily autonomous. But if Mexican leaders wanted to get rid of unions, all they would have to do is enforce the law. Guiliani did something similar when mayor of NY. He announced sweeping investigations into union corruption, then negotiated very favorable contracts while prosecution was hanging over union leaders heads, then called off the investigations when he got the terms he wanted.
- iudqnolq 3y ago
  Maybe I was wrong to focus on employer controlled vs real unions. That's certainly a problem, but as you point out it's not the only problem. Here's the broader point I was trying to make: Mexico has a problem with corrupt unions. But US unions are trying to help Mexicans solve that problem, not abandoning cooperation with anyone in the country. I'm not sure if the US teachers union specifically is involved. They'd have less incentive to be because you can't replace a US teacher with a Mexican one.

pyuser583 3y ago

I was thinking more of this: https://jacobin.com/2016/08/mexico-teacher-union-strikes-oaxaca/ https://jacobin.com/2016/08/mexico-teacher-union-strikes-oax... Describing the prosecution of the head of the teachers union in 2013: > Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam charged Gordillo with money laundering, saying she had used the union funds to pay for airplanes, pilot training, her plastic surgeries, and purchases of luxury items in the United States. Juan Díaz de la Torre, who was a loyal member of her union caucus, became head of the union. > While Gordillo was very likely guilty of the embezzlement of which she was accused, such practices are common in the Mexican labor bureaucracy. The motive for jailing her was political: first she had betrayed the PRI, and then she had opposed Peña Nieto. The part about “such practices are common in the labor bureaucracy” is telling. Corruption is so common, that any prosecution can (accurately!) be labeled political is one of the best signs of a corrupt system. This isn’t about an employer controlled union. The union is heavily autonomous. But if Mexican leaders wanted to get rid of unions, all they would have to do is enforce the law. Guiliani did something similar when mayor of NY. He announced sweeping investigations into union corruption, then negotiated very favorable contracts while prosecution was hanging over union leaders heads, then called off the investigations when he got the terms he wanted.

iudqnolq 3y ago
Maybe I was wrong to focus on employer controlled vs real unions. That's certainly a problem, but as you point out it's not the only problem. Here's the broader point I was trying to make: Mexico has a problem with corrupt unions. But US unions are trying to help Mexicans solve that problem, not abandoning cooperation with anyone in the country. I'm not sure if the US teachers union specifically is involved. They'd have less incentive to be because you can't replace a US teacher with a Mexican one.