The National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (Spanish: Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana, or SNTMMSRM) is a union of coal and copper miners, as well as iron and steel workers, in Mexico. It was founded in 1934, and in 1936 it became an affiliate of the newly formed Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM).
The SNTMMSRM's leaders were initially staunch allies of Vicente Lombardo Toledano, the head of the CTM. In 1949, when Lombardo Toledano left the CTM to form the rival General Union of Workers and Campesinos (UGOCM) and the Popular Party, the SNTMMSRM joined these new organizations. The unions of railroad workers (STFRM) and oil workers (STPRM) also supported Lombardo Toledano.
The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the CTM saw Lombardo Toledano and these unions as a threat, and in the 1950 the government installed charros (corrupt labor bosses) in the leadership of the SNTMMSRM. The most important of these charros was Napoleón Gómez Sada, who was the president of the SNTMMSRM for decades until he was replaced by his son in 2001.
The pro-government SNTMMSRM leaders faced little opposition from the miners' locals (except for Local 65 in Cananea, Sonora). However, a strong reform campaign was initiated in the 1970s and 1980s by steelworkers' locals.
The current leader of the SNTMMSRM is Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, son of the long-time union president. Gómez Urrutia is today living in exile in Canada, where he fled after being accused of fraud by Mexican authorities. Deemed innocent by his supporters and re-elected to a six-year term in May 2008, Gómez Urrutia has organized the union remotely from Vancouver, British Columbia, since 2006."
Read more about National Union Of Mine And Metal Workers Of The Mexican Republic: Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words national, union, workers, mexican and/or republic:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The old ideals are dead as nails—nothing there. It seems to me there remains only this perfect union with a woman—sort of ultimate marriage—and there isn’t anything else.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“When men and women across the country reported how happy they felt, researchers found that jugglers were happier than others. By and large, the more roles, the greater the happiness. Parents were happier than nonparents, and workers were happier than nonworkers. Married people were much happier than unmarried people. Married people were generally at the top of the emotional totem pole.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)
“The germ of violence is laid bare in the child abuser by the sheer accident of his individual experience ... in a word, to a greater degree than we like to admit, we are all potential child abusers.”
—F. Gonzalez-Crussi, Mexican professor of pathology, author. “Reflections on Child Abuse,” Notes of an Anatomist (1985)
“Universal empire is the prerogative of a writer. His concerns are with all mankind, and though he cannot command their obedience, he can assign them their duty. The Republic of Letters is more ancient than monarchy, and of far higher character in the world than the vassal court of Britain.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)