Hi John,
Our Worker-To-Worker Exchange Delegation has just returned from Mexico, and I’m so proud of what we accomplished with our allies in the Mexican labor movement! This is the first time the UE Research and Education Fund has been able to send a delegation since 2017. The knowledge we developed together and the international solidarity we built are overwhelming proof of the value of this program. Now we need your help to keep it going next year and every year.
Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, we sent 8 rank-and-file members – representing Locals 256, 300, 506, 618, 625, 728, 1077, and 1103 – one national officer, and two staff members to Mexico City for a week. They met with our allies in the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT), an independent, democratic labor union we’ve had a strong relationship with since we fought NAFTA together in the 1990s. FAT workers discussed their hopes and fears about Mexico’s new 2019 labor law that requires democratic voting for union representatives and contracts, and our members talked about their struggles with improving working conditions through collective bargaining.
Our delegation also shared information about UE’s dynamic Green Locomotive Project, which aims to improve air quality, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and create environmental justice by forcing railroads to adopt cleaner-burning or all-electric locomotives built by union workers in Erie, PA. We exchanged experiences and ideas with members of the Alianza de Tranviarios de México (ATM), an independent union representing workers in the electric tram and trolley system in Mexico City, who have been advocating for reinvestment in electric public transit.
This experience was transformative for our members. One delegate commented that meeting FAT members in person helped him see them as real, working people like us, many of whom are employed by the same companies and share similar struggles. That helped him understand the importance of advocating for consistent working conditions across North America. Other delegates felt appreciation for their union-won working conditions in the US and moved by the battles our Mexican fellows still have to fight.
UE’s Worker-To-Worker Exchanges are an invaluable resource for building international worker solidarity and power. As politics heats up in both countries, we must ensure that these exchanges can happen on a regular basis. Politicians and employers use borders to divide us. They frame economics as a zero-sum game which workers can only win by accepting lower wages and worse conditions. But we know that when the international working class comes together through Worker-To-Worker Exchanges, all workers win.
Will you help us build international worker solidarity?
In solidarity,
Kari Thompson
Director, UE Research and Education Fund
