Despite being a transnational company with a global presence, Modified Technologya subsidiary of Caterpillar, He doesn’t want to settle anything with his workers, he doesn’t want to sign the collective labor agreement. He doesn’t care about his workers. “And meeting their demands is like removing a hair from a cat.”
This is what the lawyer stated Susana Prieto Terrazasspokesperson for National Independent Union of Industrial and Service Workers Movement 20/32 (SNITIS)when commenting on the situation of the 480 workers of the Tecnología Modificado company in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which is already being investigated for alleged denial of collective labor rights within the framework of the T-MEC.
“The workers are very bad. They don’t have anything to eat. Caterpillar doesn’t want to fix anything. She does not want to sign the collective bargaining agreement (CCT). He doesn’t communicate, he doesn’t show signs of life. He doesn’t understand anything. She continues in her same position. The workers are in a very unfortunate situation. They have already had a month without receiving salaries“he said in an interview.
“We already have a worker who faces the death of a family member and they do not pay her benefitsthe help of funeral expenses. Nothing. They haven’t communicated at all. We have no sign of Caterpillar life. There is no official, the company is closed. There is the poor woman with her sorrow,” she said.
This company established for 15 years in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipaswhich remanufactures auto parts, among other electronic modules or ECMS, gears, alternators, filters and hydraulic pumps. “does not want to negotiate the collective bargaining contract with the independent union.”
The lawyer said Prieto Terrazas to El Sol de México that the workers were affiliated with the Local Union of Maquiladora Industry Workers of Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas (SLTIMNLT) of the CTM.
“The workers did not legitimize the CCT because they wanted to change unions and joined the SNITIS and it called a strike to sign the CCT. And the company has not wanted to sign it because it is clinging to it being on its terms.”
Join the El Sol de México channel on WhatsApp so you don’t miss the most important information
They offer the 16% salary increase and 4.5% in benefits that the CTM contract already had. But the workers are asking for a 30, 35% increase in salary. And since there was no business response, the strike broke out on September 22, 2023.
The plant is closed. There are no jobs, there are no salaries, there is nothing. And the complaint has already been declared admissible before the T-MEC Rapid Response Labor Mechanism. He United States Department of Labor considered the complaint for violation of the freedom of union association, he said.
Companies do not understand changes in the world of work
All the workers are helpless. Nothing can be done. Wait nothing more. But if tomorrow the company that wants to sign the CCT says it signs it. The company can reconcile and sign the contract at any time.
“But the company wants to negotiate with the Independent Union as it did with the CTM. “…Here is what is offered. There is no more…” Then it is a problem, because the company does not understand work culture, nor the vision of the new independent unions.”
“The new unions go for the real defense of the workers. They were used to the CTM accepting everything it offered so as not to have a conflict with the company, to do nothing and only collect union dues,” he said.
“No, now the new unions are independent, autonomous, authentic, democratic and, above all, their fundamental task is to authentically represent the rights of workers.”
Are vices very entrenched in companies?
-Indeed. And also that the big problem is also the offices of employer lawyers, who are used to unions doing what they want. There are even lawyers, representatives of the CTM and of the CROCthat every year they already knew what they were going to do with the workers.
It will take a lot to remove all the vices, the cobwebs from law firms, he stated.
Those from the company believe a lot. They say they have codes of ethics and morals within their catalogs. And there is nothing. If they had them, they would have already signed the CCT with their workers. They have no ethics or morals.
Join the El Sol de México channel on WhatsApp so you don’t miss the most important information
Modified Technology, subsidiary of Caterpillar is a transnational company with presence throughout the world. The workers’ demands are like removing a hair from a cat, she said metaphorically.
And regarding that attitude, he concluded: “When the company accepts the demands of the SNITIS workers, then they will have to do so with all the employees or at least those in Mexico, for benefits like the ones we ask for, because the other plants are represented by the CTM.”