SONORA BRANCH OF FARM WORKERS UNION IS PLEASED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 005934 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL/AHH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EAGR SOCI PGOV PINR MX SUBJECT: SONORA BRANCH OF FARM WORKERS UNION IS PLEASED WITH ITS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ¶1. SUMMARY: The Hermosillo office of the CNC (National Peasants Confederation) in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora is a farm workers union that is making a positive difference in the lives of persons employed in the various sectors of Mexico,s agricultural industry. The CNC,s Hermosillo office has negotiated collective bargaining contracts that establish standardized wages for all workers employed in the state,s agricultural industries regardless of whether or not they are members. It has established a close and cooperative relationship with growers (employers) and it is working with progressive businessmen in this group to promote an agriculture version of the type of corporate responsibility initiatives commonly used in many manufacturing industries. At present the Hermosillo CNC,s highest priority is to have agricultural workers enrolled in Mexico,s Social Security system. Getting growers and the GOM to work out the terms of this enrollment will not be easy. If accomplished it would allow agricultural workers access to Mexico,s national health system and ultimately to accrue retirement/pension benefits. The Hermosillo CNC is one of the few organizations involved in Mexican agriculture that is not critical of NAFTA; and in fact sees the free trade agreement in fairly positive terms. Regular contact with this union could provide solid examples of how NAFTA has benefited Mexican agriculture and would allow the USG to factually rebut those who routinely criticize the free trade agreement. END SUMMARY. AN UPBEAT FARM WORKERS UNION -------------- ¶2. On November 6, Mission Mexico Labor Counselor and AmConsul Hermosillo,s Labor Watcher visited the main offices of the Sonora branch of the National Peasants Confederation (CNC). The Sonora division of the CNC is formally known as the &State Union of Workers of the Agriculture, Cattle, Aquaculture Industries and Services of Sonora "Salvador Alvarado". The CNC itself is a national organization of small to medium farmers and agro-industry workers dedicated to promoting the interests of these segments of Mexico,s agricultural industry. The CNC is formally a part of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party),Mexico,s former ruling political party, and nationally its activities are often evenly divided between the promoting the political interests of the party working to improve conditions for small farmers and farm workers. ¶3. The Hermosillo office of the CNC operates in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. The Sonora CNC has 4,000 permanent members/workers but it also represents and negotiates on behalf of some 30,000 seasonal workers employed during the state,s various harvest times. The Hermosillo CNC negotiates with the state,s Association of Agricultural Producers of Sonora, an organization of growers and agro-industrialists who employ farm laborers. The Hermosillo CNC appears to have an excellent relationship with the growers, association and in fact some of its representatives were present at the November 6 meeting. The overall tone of this meeting was buoyant and both the Hermosillo CNC and the growers, association representatives seemed eager to show Mission Mexico personnel their close working relationship and to underscore what they jointly accomplished to improve working conditions for the farm laborers throughout the state. FARM WORKERS, COLLECTIVE BARGAING CONTRACT -------------- ¶4. Both the Hermosillo CNC and the growers, association proudly discussed the terms of a farm workers, collective bargaining contract; a copy of which they shared with Mission Mexico personnel. The contract establishes a minimum wage and benefits package for all persons employed as agricultural laborers throughout the state of Sonora regardless of whether or not they were formal permanent members of the state CNC. The need for a collective bargaining contract with state wide coverage became immediately clear once the Hermosillo CNC explained that during the harvest season a large number of seasonal workers either travel to or are imported into the state to help bring in the crops. The statewide contract ensures a basic salary and benefits package for all MEXICO 00005934 002 OF 003 agricultural workers and discourages any attempts by less scrupulous individuals to try and undercut wages by importing workers from the poorer parts of Mexico outside the state. ¶5. The current collective bargaining contract for farm laborers prevailing throughout the state of Sonora establishes a minimum wage of 117.42 pesos per day (USD 10.87). This amount is more than twice the official daily minimum wage in Mexico which is roughly equivalent to USD 5.00 and compares favorably to garment factory workers in the central Mexican state of Puebla, some of whom earn as little as the equivalent of USD 9.78. Both the Hermosillo CNC and the growers, association representatives were eager to point out that individual workers and free to try and negotiate higher salaries with potential employers but that it was illegal for any laborer in the state to be paid less than amounts established in the collective bargaining contract. ¶6. In addition to a minimum daily wage for agricultural laborers in Sonora the current collective bargaining contract also makes provisions for overtime payments when employees are required to work on Sundays and establishes a higher minimum daily wage of skilled workers such as tractor drivers, mechanics and heavy vehicle drivers. The contract also has some (modest) profit sharing provisions and for permanent CNC members/workers and for certain longer-term seasonal workers, a mechanism for paying Christmas bonuses. Permanent CNC members/workers are also entitled to employer paid life insurance benefits. THE NEXT STEP FOR SONORA,S CNC -------------- ¶7. The Hermosillo office of the Sonora CNC was obviously pleased with what it has accomplished so far for agricultural workers in the state. Now that the Sonora office had negotiated what it considered to be a fair collective bargaining contract it was preparing to focus on a new and undoubtedly a more far-reaching goal. According to the Secretary General of the Hermosillo CNC, Trindad Sanchez SIPDIS Leyva, the next step for the union was to work with the GOM and the state,s growers association to establish a method for fully enrolling agricultural workers into Mexico,s Social Security system. Enrollment in this system would allow farm laborers and their families access to Mexico,s national health care system and enable these workers to begin to accrue retirement/pension benefits. ¶8. Enrolling agricultural workers in Mexico,s Social Security system would significantly improve living conditions for these laborers. Unfortunately, the high cost and bureaucratic complexity for employers of enrolling their employees in the system it often cited by businessmen a being one of the major obstacles to job creation in Mexico. A significant number of employers in Mexico go to great lengths to avoid the cost and difficulty of enrolling their employees in the country,s social security system. Moreover, many who do enroll their employees under report the workers, by a considerable amount in order to lower their own financial liabilities. Given the relatively modest salaries of farm laborers in Sonora there would be little real incentive for agro-businessmen to substantially under report their wages. Nevertheless, paying into social security for their laborers in not something employers have had to do in the past and in all likelihood they will resist taking on this added expense of doing business. AGRO-INDUSTRY CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY -------------- ¶9. Although getting agro-employers to enroll their employees in Mexico,s Social Security system may still be something for the future, the Hermosillo office of the CNC is already working with the state,s growers, association to develop an agriculture version of the type of corporate responsibility initiatives commonly used in many manufacturing industries. This initiative is still relatively new and the idea of this type of corporate responsibility is not yet universally accepted as something that can or should be done by the agro-employers. Nevertheless, the representatives of the growers, association present at the November 6 meeting MEXICO 00005934 003 OF 003 unequivocally affirmed that developing and implementing a corporate responsibility initiative was something his organization was committed to doing. The first tentative steps the growers are taking are in the areas of improved housing (for out of state laborers) and subsidized meals for farm laborers. No specific information was provided on what follow-on steps the growers might take but fact that they have thought about and committed their organization to carrying out such an initiative is significant. NAFTA GOOD FOR SONORAN AGRICULTURE -------------- ¶11. More often than not, when the topic of NAFTA comes up with most persons involved with Mexican agriculture the comments one is likely to hear are uniformly negative. However, this was definitely not the case in Sonora. The Sonora CNC did not see NAFTA as imposing some type of unfair competition on Mexican agriculture. From their perspective, NAFTA has increased demand for agricultural products produced in Sonora by facilitating the flow of goods. As a result, growers in the state have expanded their production and this has created additional jobs for farm laborers. The Secretary General of the Hermosillo CNC repeatedly told Mission Mexico personnel that his union was fully sportive of NAFTA. COMMENT -------------- ¶12. The visit of Mission Mexico personnel to the Hermosillo office of the CNC was unquestionably a very positive first step in establishing contacts with this sector of organized labor in northwestern Mexico. The Sonora CNC clearly appears to be setting an example for how cooperative relations with agro-employers can improve working conditions for farm laborers. The Hermosillo CNC is also one of the few organizations involved in Mexican agriculture that is not critical of NAFTA; and in fact sees the free trade agreement in fairly positive terms. Regular contact with this union could provide solid examples of how NAFTA has benefited Mexican agriculture and would allow the USG to factually rebut those who routinely criticize the free trade agreement. ¶13. This message was cleared with AmConsul Hermosillo. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / GARZA