Mexican Labor Union Acts to Force Out Controversial Leader in Border Town

Agapito Gonzalez, who for decades has controlled the maquiladora unions in the Mexican border town of Matamoros, is being forced from power by national leaders of the Mexican Workers Federation.

Fidel Velazquez, the 90-year-old patriarch of the federation, known by the initials CTM, accused Gonzalez of corruption and dismissed him as president of the federation’s Matamoros branch a week ago. Gonzalez has refused to accept the ouster, saying that he was elected as the union’s secretary general in Matamoros by local union members and was not appointed by Velazquez.

The conflict is expected to be resolved this week. Both Gonzalez and representatives of National Maquiladora Assn. were reported to be in Mexico City on Monday to discuss the situation with Velasquez.

Under Gonzalez, the 40,000 workers in Matamoros’ 83 plants became the highest-paid employees among the maquiladoras , which are predominantly U.S.-owned factories that assemble export goods from imported components. Union gains in Matamoros included a 40-hour work week in a country where 48 hours is the norm.

However, in recent years, few new maquiladoras have been started in Matamoros, despite a boom in the rest of the border area and the city’s relative proximity both to Eastern U.S. manufacturing centers and to the Mexican industrial city of Monterrey. Tijuana now has five times as many of the plants as Matamoros and 50% more people working in them.

Gonzalez is blamed for this situation by factory owners, who accuse him of arrogance and of calling strikes for frivolous reasons, such as personal feuds. Owners expressed their concerns to President Carlos Salinas de Gortari during his recent visit to Rio Bravo, a town west of Matamoros.

Then, early last week, Velazquez announced that Gonzalez would be replaced by Diego Navarro, who last year was named head of a new maquiladora union in neighboring Reynosa.

Matamoros employers had been predicting Gonzalez’s departure since February, when the national federation reportedly was auditing local union records.

Maquiladoras are Mexico’s third-largest source of foreign exchange--after oil exports and tourism--and provide about 450,000 jobs. The Mexican government actively promotes foreign investment in the factories, emphasizing their low labor cost and proximity to the United States.

The Matamoros federation includes 35 unions representing 87,000 workers, most of them employed by maquiladoras .