For the second time, a mining union of the global steel giant, ArcelorMittal in Mexico voted to maintain the blockade that began on May 24 of part of its facilities in the western city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. So far (July 9) there have been 47 days of blockade, before the vote the company requested the intervention of the authorities so "that the rule of law is exercised."
“The consultation (voting) process does not legitimate the seizure of our facilities nor does it modify in any sense the illegal nature of the strike,” ArcelorMittal México reported in a press release.
The Mining Union, led by Congressman Napoleón Gómez Urrutia (of the party in power) began a blockade of the ArcelorMittal facilities on May 24, arguing that profits were poorly distributed to workers. According to the company, it started with red and black flags. Five days later, the blockade became a strike.
Due to the use of red and black flags, two courts have rejected the call to strike, making the blockade illegal. In addition, the company began the legal process to dismiss more than 1,200 unionized workers for violating the Mexican Federal Labor Law, in relation to collusion with other workers in order to damage the source of employment, furtive and illegal kidnapping of the facilities, among other violations.
In 47 days of blockade, around 310,000 mt of billet and around 78,000 mt of rebar have been stopped from being produced. To end the blockade, the company offered economic incentives and promised to cancel all retaliatory measures for the blockade.
“The Mining Union made the decision to seize the company's facilities to force payments to those to whom they are not entitled; they also attempted to legitimize the illegal strike through strike calls that were archived by the judicial authority,” the company said in the statement.
With the blockade that will be legally resolved until August 7, the company reported that it is very serious that they "compromise the sustainability of a strategic company in Mexico in one of the most important productive activities of any economy and even more serious that they rely on the exercise of their collective rights to simulate a legitimate movement that, in reality, seeks to extort a company and obtain undue profits."
In a past interview, the governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla (of the ruling party), said that ArcelorMittal had not yet requested the intervention of public forces to unblock the facilities. But now, the company said "we ask the relevant authorities for their immediate intervention so that the rule of law is exercised and this conflict is resolved to safeguard the source of labor."
According to ArcelorMittal, the development of the entire blockade process “constitutes a delicate and negative precedent that threatens certainty and the rule of law in our country.”