UAW Local 2865 support for teaches in Oaxaca, Mexico

WHEREAS, Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), which represents teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico, is involved in a protracted struggle that began in May 2006, and, in the best traditions of teacher unionism, is demanding decent wages as well as adequate funding to improve conditions in schools and stipends to assure access to education for the most impoverished working families; and

WHEREAS, since May 2006 teachers and their families, with overwhelming popular support, have occupied and barricaded several areas of the city, as well as established a massive encampment in the main square of downtown Oaxaca; and

WHEREAS, the brutal four-hour attack by the Ministerial Police in the early morning of June 14, 2006, that resulted in the serious injury and death of several encamped teachers and supporters, including young children, and the continuing attacks from paramilitary groups sponsored by local authorities have led to the formation of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) to support the teachers' struggle; and

WHEREAS, on Friday October 27, 2006, Ministerial Police and paramilitary forces under the authority of Oaxacan State Governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz again viciously attacked the encampments and
barricades of Section 22 and APPO, killing three and injuring twenty-three, in an attempt to defeat the teachers' labor struggle through blatant coercion, intimidation, and state repression; and

WHEREAS, Mexican authorities recently amassed over 20,000 federal troops and police in nearby ports and cities, and on October 27, 2006, President Vicente Fox—using the recent police attacks as a justification—ordered the mobilization of these troops into Oaxaca to "restore order" in an obvious attempt to undermine further the popularly-supported SNTE / APPO movement; and

WHEREAS, the current attacks on Oaxacan teachers and students by Mexican authorities reflects an ongoing international trend by federal and state governments to defund, or altogether suspend, basic social programs (such as education) and to disregard the fundamental economic and social needs of increasingly impoverished working-class communities—moving to safeguard profit, economic competitiveness, and geopolitical power through massive layoffs and outsourcing, cutting of wages and benefits, the privatization of public institutions and services, increased military spending, and wars fought over ever more vital natural resources like oil; and

WHEREAS, teachers, students, workers, and their families have no stake in the growing and increasingly more dangerous disputes between the political and corporate elites of different nations over dwindling profit margins, domestic and foreign investments, and access to global financial markets and natural resources, but crucially, need to build and strengthen international solidarity against the mounting assaults on teachers, workers, and students' basic livelihoods; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that UAW Local 2865, in an act of international solidarity, supports the demands of Section 22 of the SNTE and APPO for higher teachers' salaries, improved conditions in schools, and an end to the violent and repressive anti-labor politics espoused by the State Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruíz Ortíz; and be it

RESOLVED, that UAW Local 2865 condemns the Ministerial Police's June 14, 2006, and October 27, 2006, attacks on the popularly-supported teachers' encampment, and condemn any further use of state violence against our brother and sister teachers in Oaxaca, while also joining the growing international condemnation of the use of state violence to defeat and/or undermine labor struggles and movements; and be it further

RESOLVED, that UAW Local 2865 pledges to express their solidarity and support for the courageous struggle of Oaxacan teachers and working families by participating in local solidarity actions and demonstrations; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that UAW Local 2865 calls on the Oaxacan state and Mexican government to end all police violence against the teachers, their families, and community supporters, and to return to negotiations and meet the just demands of the teachers.

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UAW Local 2865 is the union representing over 12,000 Academic Student Employees - Tutors, Readers, and Teaching Assistants - at the nine teaching campuses of the University of California.

http://www.uaw2865.org