Defeat for the Left in Mexico? Oaxacan Teachers Ending Strike, Returning to Classes (Translation)

El Universal ( Mexico City ) ^ | October 19, 2006 | Liliana Alcantara ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

Teacher's Union Accepts Resumption of Classes in Oaxaca

The Secretary General of Section 22 of the SNTE,¹ Enrique Rueda Pacheco, makes known that next Saturday they will set the date for the return to the classrooms.

Liliana Alcantara
El Universal
Mexico City
Thursday 19 October 2006

7:02 p.m.The Secretary General of Section 22 of the SNTE, Enrique Rueda Pacheco, informed everyone of the decision of the teacher's union of resuming classes in Oaxaca after five months of conflict.

He made known that next Saturday they will set the date for the resumption of classes, which could be Monday, October 23rd, Wednesday the 25th of October, or Monday the 30th.

He informed everyone that Sunday, together with the members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), they will define the next actions which follow, since he declared that they are not ending their demand of removing Ulises Ruiz from the Oaxacan government.

He explained that the decision of returning to classes does not respond to any political pressure, only to the interest of the union to respond to the demand of the parents of families and children in the state.

In a press conference, Rueda Pacheco indicated that the new mechanisms of pressure which they will decide upon next weekend will be by way of institutions.

He said that next Sunday they will also decide if they will maintain the barricades and the taking of state radio stations or not, as well as the protest encampment they are maintaining outside the Senate of the Republic [in Mexico City].

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Translator's Note:

¹ The SNTE is the acronym for the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (National Union of Educational Workers), whose Section 22 (i.e. "Local 22") in Oaxaca organized the original strike this past May 22 which precipitated the current conflict, later leading to the organization of APPO, which significantly radicalized the situation.

[StJacques]

Well; beyond the factual details given in the above article, I am not sure what it will mean in the final analysis. Even though the teacher's union says that it is not bowing to political pressure, there was movement late last week within the national organization of the SNTE to purge the Oaxacan teachers from their ranks. This would have meant the loss of a paycheck, which many of you may be surprised to learn the striking teachers have been receiving from the outset. Elba Esther Gordillo, one of the most controversial figures in Mexican politics, who holds quite a bit of stroke within the SNTE, publicly stated that the Oaxacan teachers should be removed from the ranks of the union.

I will be very interested in seeing whether or not this means that APPO is now out on a limb. They began taking over state government offices in Oaxaca this week, as was discussed in an earlier thread. So we'll just take this one step at a time and see what happens.

[StJacques]

A Mexican Left Watch ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to be added to the ping list may contact me via Freepmail or post within this thread.

[okie01]

Sounds like the air is going out of the balloon.

None too soon, I'd say.

[DaoPian]

I'm not holding my breath, but could it all come down to something as simple as a paycheck?

The split with Section 22 was mentioned here:
National SNTE threatens to dump local teachers

Interesting thing how the minimum wage is zoned down there. IMHO if your still taking pay, you can't say your on strike. Paying "striking" workers just seems wrong.

[A CA Guy]

Thanks.

[norton]

An animal is most dangerous when cornered and I'd say that the socialists and which ever elite might gain from destabilization were cornered just about now.

[StJacques]

". . . IMHO if your still taking pay, you can't say your on strike. Paying "striking" workers just seems wrong."

And thus do we arrive at the recognition that Mexico is facing a terrifying transformation in its attempt to unravel the "Corporate State" which was put in place starting in the late 1930's and was finalized by the mid 1950's. It all sounds like a good idea at first; bring all the competing interests groups in society together -- capital, labor, business, industry, agriculture, bureaucracy -- and make sure that everyone gets a seat at the table and you can keep the peace. All you have to do is provide a protected market to guarantee that labor, business, and industry get along; see to it that agriculture gets a bone or two in the way of a country road or an agricultural school here and there; legalize labor union contracts as existing under government auspices; make the bureaucrats numerous enough to represent all these otherwise competing interests and everyone will be fine. The problem is that Corporate Statism kills innovation and competition, which are the true backbones of dynamic economic and social progress, something Mexico realized by the late 1980's.

The undoing of the Mexican Corporate State began with NAFTA in 1992 and has continued to this very day. They still have not undone a lot of what needs to be put in place, and this strike -- which depended upon the persistence of a paycheck since the national union negotiated the contract with the state government of Oaxaca, whose payments to the national union were guaranteed -- has brought some of those problems in the forefront. Among the many changes needed in Mexico, reform of its labor laws is near the top and I don't see anyone willing to take the problem on right now. The PAN Party comes closest in wanting to put the Oil and Electrical monopolies on a privatized footing, which would mean the loss of many "make work" jobs the unions are famous for keeping, but even that's not enough.

Maybe a conflict like this one will teach the country a lesson.

[Kenny Bunk]

IMHO if your still taking pay, you can't say your on strike. Paying "striking" workers just seems wrong.

Yes, we Americans have such quaint ideas!

[StJacques]

"An animal is most dangerous when cornered . . ."

I think this applies to APPO right now. The SNTE are, so to speak, "returning to the fold" of civilized society and, frankly, APPO is not worth much without them.

What APPO decides to do over the next few months could make things dangerous all over again. Especially since there is no small amount of public sentiment urging that their leaders be arrested and tried for crimes -- including murder -- committed while they controlled Oaxaca City.

It's worth keeping an eye on in my opinion.

[Uriah_lost]

You can get great insight on this whole mess here:
http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/

[Enterprise]

No pay no work Bump!!

[StJacques]

Founding Father -- I think -- introduced me to that site Uriah. It is pretty good. Thanks for thinking of me on that.

DaoPian also introduced me to a good site as well, even though it starts with an August 27th post, then goes to the most recent and progresses backwards after that (kinda weird), but really has some fascinating stuff, including pics.

Oaxaca Watch Live Posting Site

It's really worth checking out.

[Uriah_lost]

Excellent! Thanks!

[Heartofsong83]

Wow, they can't even get away with it in their stronghold! The left may want to retreat south to get closer to Hugo Chavez...it's clear we are getting the upper hand on Mexico, even with the illegal immigration problem (most of them are leftists anyway). Tell them they should illegally immigrate - the other way.

[JCEccles]

Astute analysis.