Delegation of Canadian/BC Union Leaders to Visit Striking Mexican

Copper Mine Workers Tuesday at Border-area Copper Mine
by CLC/USW/COPE
A Delegation of Canadian Union Leaders will be in Tucscon, AZ Tuesday en route to the Cananea Copper Mine in Mexico.
 
The delegation, which includes the President of the Canadian Labour Congress, Ken Georgetti, as well as several other Canadian national labour leaders from the United Steelworkers (USW) and Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE), is a delegation offering support to striking mine workers union Los Mineros (membership 280,000).
 
The delegation will be coming from Mexico City where they have attended the Convention for Los Mineros and met with the Canadian Ambassador to Mexico regarding the imprisonment of union leader Juan Linares.

 

Linares has been held since 2008 in the horrid conditions of the Reclusorio del Norte prison despite an order to be released by a criminal court judge. He was arrested after attending a union convention in Vancouver, Canada in 2008.
 
From Tucson the delegation will be driving to the Cananea mine in Sonora for a rally and press conference with striking miners. The miners have faced increased aggression, threats, and violence from the Mexican Government and the mine owner, Grupo Mexico. Recently, striking miners have threatened to destroy the mine if the government tries to evict them. Cananea is the largest copper mine in Mexico.
 
The trip is also in support of Los Mineros President Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who has been living in exile in Vancouver since 2007 after criticing the Mexican Government and Grupo Mexico following a devastating mine disaster that killed 65 mine workers. Gomez called the incident "industrial homicide," leading to trumped-up charges and death threats driving him into exile in the US, and now Canada.
 

 

 

 

 

 

DETAILS
 
WHAT:  Canadian Labour Leaders in Tucson, AZ
                        Available for comment
 
WHO:       Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti
                  Leaders from United Steelworkers and Canadian Office and Professional Employees
 
WHEN:     May 4
 
WHERE:    Tucscon, AZ and Cananea Mine, Sonora, Mexico
 
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For more information contact Mike Bruce, Communication Director, 604-812-9049