Piedras Negras, Coahuila
3 de diciembre de 2003

Estimad@s amig@s:

Estamos llegando al final del año, y como en los anteriores, tenemos una vez más el gusto de compartir con ustedes nuestro reporte anual y darles a conocer nuestros objetivos alcanzados durante 2003. Esperamos que las fiestas de navidad y de fin de año que están por venir les encuentren disfrutando de paz y amor al lado de sus seres queridos. En el CFO, seguimos en nuestra lucha cotidiana por lograr mejoras y cambios en las maquiladoras y en las comunidades, para los y las trabajador@s y sus familias. ¡Si quieres paz trabaja por la justicia! En nuestra experiencia: ¡Si quieres justicia para los trabajadores, organiza!

We are coming to the end of another year, and as in the past, we again have the pleasure to share with you our annual report and to apprise you of our achievements during 2003. We hope that you will find yourselves enjoying the holidays and the new year in peace and love together with your cherished ones. In the CFO, we continue our daily fight for improvements and changes in the maquiladoras and in our communities for all workers and their families. If you want peace, work for justice! And in our experience: if you want justice for workers, organize!

Durante todo el año estuvimos involucrados en una serie de actividades de capacitación técnica y superación personal muy productivas para la organización: talleres de Derechos Humanos y laborales; de derechos de las mujeres; de organización sindical; de salud ocupacional y prestaciones sociales del IMSS como pensiones y accidentes. Tuvimos intercambios entre trabajadores de diferentes plantas y ciudades. Es increíble ver lo que sucede cuando l@s trabjador@s se unen y comparten experiencias; ellos son los que tienen las soluciones a todos los problemas, pero es necesario seguir desarrollando la unidad y la fuerza. Algo que nos inspiró muchísimo fue el revisar nuestra estructura como organización, con el ánimo de ser más efectivos y colectivos en los proyectos, toma de decisiones y responsabilidades.

Throughout the year we have involved ourselves in a series of activities focusing on technical trainings and personal capacity-building that were very productive for the organization: workshops on human and labor rights; women's rights; union organizing; occupational health; and pension and accident benefits. We held exchanges between workers from different companies and cities. It is incredible to see what happens when workers come together to share experiences: they are the ones that find the solutions to their problems, but it is necessary to continue building unity and power. Something that inspired us a great deal was to revise our structure as an organization in the spirit of becoming more effective and coordinated in our projects, decision-making, and responsibilities.

Participamos en diferentes eventos nacionales e internacionales, y pudimos ver que puede haber armonía entre trabajadores, empresa y gobierno cuando hay respeto para todos, eso lo pudimos observar el pasado mes de octubre en Manao, en el Amazonas, en una de la zonas francas más grandes de Brasil.

We participated in different national and international events, and we learned that there can be harmony between workers, companies and the government if there is respect for everyone. We witnessed this firsthand last October in the city of Manaus located in the Amazon region of Brazil, one of the largest free trade zones of that nation.

La situación en la frontera para los trabajadores sigue siendo amenazada; primero fue que con la puesta en marcha del TLC las transnacionales se estaban mudando al interior del país. Después la industria maquiladora en general se vio afectada por la desaceleración de la economía, que junto con los atentados del 11 de septiembre ocasionaron el despido de miles de trabajadores y suspensiones de labores. En el menos peor de los casos significó estancamiento de salarios. Ahora tenemos la amenaza constante de las empresas que están planteando irse a China si los trabajadores "exigen derechos".

The situation in the border region for workers continues to be threatening. First, the corporations began to move to the interior of the country with the advent of NAFTA. Then the maquiladora industry in general was affected by the slowdown of the U.S. economy, which together with the attacks of September 11, caused the firing of thousands of workers and loss of employment. The most workers could hope for was to hang on to their jobs with no chance of a pay raise. Now we have the further constant threat that the companies will go to China if workers "complain too much" about their rights.

El trabajo de organizar y dar poder a los trabajadores es un proceso que tiene que ser constante y permanente. No esperamos cambiar el mundo de un día para otro, pero seguras estamos que si seguimos fieles a nuestras metas y objetivos vamos construyendo un futuro mejor para las nuevas generaciones. Los trabajadores mexicanos seguimos insistiendo y luchando, y lo vamos a seguir haciendo hasta el último día de nuestra vida, porque tenemos dignidad, porque somos nosotros los que estamos construyendo las riquezas, somos nosotros los que estamos haciendo la producción.

The work of organizing and empowering workers is a process that must be constant and permanent. We do not expect to change the world from one day to the next, but we are certain that if we stay faithful to our tasks and objectives we will build a better world for future generations. Mexican workers continue insisting and fighting, and we will do so until the last days of our lives, because we have dignity, because we are the ones who create the wealth, and because we are the ones responsible for the production.

Los invitamos a que sigan haciendo posible nuestro proyecto de cambio con su apoyo a la labor que hacemos.

We invite you to continue making possible our project for social change with your support of our work.

Sinceramente:

The achivements of the CFO in 2003 Annual Report of the Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s México

For a fourth consecutive year we present this public report on the achievements and activities of the women and men who work in the maquiladoras. We address this report first to workers themselves, who are literally in the trenches of the battle against exploitation and the abuses of globalization. Second, we happily share it with allies from other parts of Mexico and from many other countries who support us out of their concern for building grassroots efforts and for the struggles of common people around the globe. As you will read, in 2003 we continued to harvest successes, despite an environment characterized by the closing of maquiladoras and by corporate threats to relocate to China as a means of immobilizing workers. We have not let up in our struggle, nor shall we as we fight for justice for workers!

Education and grassroots struggles of workers

• Alcoa: we begin to unite workers from three cities. The year 2003 was one of re-grouping in the struggle at the Macoelmex plant in Piedras Negras. The fallout of the intensely fought democratic union movement in 2002 included the dismissal of various workers, but also the firing of the two worst Alcoa managers in the city. As a result, direct confrontations stopped, and workers began other resistance strategies. One of these was the organization of an exchange of experiences among 30 Alcoa workers from Piedras Negras, Ciudad Acuña and Puebla. For the first time, the CFO arranged for the independent union at Alcoa Puebla, independent unionists from Piedras, and workers without any union from Acuña to meet and compare their working conditions. In September, two women workers from Piedras Negras and one from Acuña had a frank exchange of viewpoints with high-ranking Alcoa executives in San Antonio during a meeting with shareholders. Meanwhile, workers fired in 2002 settled their lawsuits in exchange for severance pay after having pressured Alcoa for more than a year.
• 14 workers and the CFO win battle against Delphi. In Reynosa, a lawsuit that the CFO supported from beginning to end was finally won after nearly two years. Fourteen workers who were unjustly terminated because they refused to change shifts overcame the obstacles placed in their way by the company, the labor authorities and the CTM, and won a sizable severance award. In disbelief, the labor authorities stated it was the first time in almost 20 years that anyone had won a lawsuit against Delphi.
• Rights of pregnant workers. Pregnant workers at Macoelmex in Piedras, who in 2002 won the right to work lighter duties, continued their fight in 2003, now demanding recognition of their right under labor law to two additional half-hour breaks each day to feed their babies. Management and the CTM union have tried to dissuade the workers from insisting on this, but they remain firm. Alcoa apparently seeks to eliminate a similar benefit in Ciudad Acuña whereby these workers have been allowed to arrive an hour late or leave an hour early; rather, families may be required to bring the babies to the plant to be fed there.
• Opposing violence against women. The CFO continued to take an active role this year building public pressure to halt and investigate the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez. We have appeared before diverse audiences, including a delegation of congresspersons from the United States, proposing bi-national solutions to confront the problem. As we did in 2001, we convoked a second international forum "Working Women Against Violence Against Women" in November 2002. Our delegation was the most numerous of the event: 15 women from various border cities. Local newspapers published three photos of us with our solidarity banner (see our internet site). At a local level, we held a small workshop on gender issues in Nuevo Laredo in October.
  
• Health project. We held an important regional workshop on health and changes to the Social Security system in Torreón, Coahuila in July. This was the first time that we held an event in that city, which permitted a good-sized group of workers from the maquiladoras in Torreón to attend. Local experts gave presentations to the forty participants. At the same time, we continue supporting workers individually who ask us to accompany them to the Social Security clinics, and to advise them on resolving problems gaining the benefits that are due to them.
  
• CFO against the war in Iraq: Peace vigil. On March 12, we joined the call against the United States government's war on Iraq in concert with people in thousands of cities around the world. In Piedras Negras, we gathered in the town square with candles and a banner, and we handed out peace doves made of cloth. People put the doves on the antennas of their cars. The CFO also participated in the conference "Women and War" that was held in San Marcos, Texas in May.
  

Internal strengthening

• New structure for the Governing Council. Through an important retreat for reflection and analysis on the CFO held in Monterrey, we recognized the need for and collectively committed to a process of strengthening CFO's leadership structure. From this, a Governing Council was formed to replace the former Executive Committee. The new structure consists of eight committee members in total, all of them present or former maquiladora workers who have demonstrated their seriousness and commitment to the CFO through the years. Now we are continuing the process by defining the specific functions of the Council and other aspects of the internal life of the organization.
• Continued training in labor rights. During the year we continued preparing ourselves in different areas of labor law. For example, three of us traveled to Mexico City for a seminar conducted by the Red de Abogados Laboristas (Labor Lawyer Network) in March. Also in March, we conducted a regional workshop in Piedras Negras on the human rights of women workers, and on judicial procedurals of labor law. In October, two Macoelmex workers went to Mexico City for the first segment of a degree program, the subject of which was collective bargaining.
  
• Alliance with Despacho Obrero and extension to other cities. We started off 2003 with a union between the CFO and the Despacho Obrero of Ciudad Juárez. The Despacho has a long and recognized history of doing legal work for workers in the maquiladoras, and it now provides us space in its office. During the year, compañeras from Piedras and Acuña went to Juárez on five occasions to coordinate the work of education and organization with Despacho Obrero. In Nuevo Laredo, several CFO compañeras and compañeros continued in efforts to help workers there
  

National and international activities and alliances

• Local and national alliances and relations. Not a week passed that we were not active connecting with many different people at the local and national level. Most notable was our relationship with the compañeros of Alcoa Puebla, and with CAT, also in Puebla. In Juárez, we cultivated relations with Casa Amiga and CETLAC, among others. As a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Labor Studies, Julia participated in two meetings of that group in Mexico City. Also, IMDEC and CILAS helped us to facilitate workshops.
  
• International solidarity campaign with Alcoa workers. For the first time, workers together with the CFO decided to make an international call for solidarity in order to stop the repression against our compañeros who had formed an independent union committee. We envisioned a short but intense campaign, and the international response was very good. The campaign ended in December 2002 and contributed to the removal of the two principal managers in Piedras Negras. We thank all the people who sent faxes to Alcoa and who participated in a week of protest actions in the United States. One sequel of the campaign was a deeply moving process of community testimony catalyzed by a visit of law students from American University Law School's human rights clinic in February.
  
• Sharing our experience of free trade and globalization. In order to continue relating what it is to live in the first line of resistance to globalization, we participated with the Mexico Solidarity Network in a trip to Oregon in February. In November, a compañera from Reynosa represented the CFO in forums organized by women of the AFL-CIO during the ministerial meetings of the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Miami. In March we had a bad experience with the labor side agreements of NAFTA: five of our compañeras from Reynosa went to Monterrey trying to attend a tri-national seminar on the functioning of labor conciliation and arbitration boards; however, at the last moment the bureaucrats went to another hotel to meet without leaving a new address. They told us at the Howard Johnson that the seminar was private, but that was a lie.
  
• Events and international alliances. More than 10 compañeras and compañeros of the CFO visited a total of 17 cities of the world this year: in addition to the tours mentioned above, we were invited to Montreal to a World Aluminum Conference organized by the International Metalworkers Federation; to two different trips to Brazil; to participate as speakers at the LASA Conference in Dallas; and to Geneva, Switzerland, to learn about the ILO. And in our own cities, as always, we hosted various delegations and union groups, not only from the United States but this year also from England and Ireland. We would be very grateful if each group that visits us would make or seek an economic contribution for the support of the CFO's work. In 2003, we continued our ongoing processes of building strategic alliances with unions and groups like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera (ATCF), the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center), the Benedictine Sisters, the Maquila Solidarity Network, the Mexico Solidarity Network, the Steelworkers (USWA), the International Metalworkers Federation, and others.
  

Visibility

• www.cfomaquiladoras.org We're now on line! After postponing the project for a year due principally to the urgencies of the struggle of Alcoa workers, we finally launched our internet site on December 2003. There is still more information to add, and the English site will be finished in 2004, but we did not want to wait any longer. Staff from the AFSC's Mexico-U.S. Border Program and the Community Relations Unit in Philadelphia is helping us with the site. We invite you to visit it and to spread news of it widely.
  
• Correo de la Unión and press articles. CFO-Juárez published three numbers of a small workers bulletin called Correo de la Unión (Union Mail). We hope to be able to publish a border-wide bulletin and to keep up the work we started a couple of years ago with La frontera activa. And among various newspapers that visited us and published articles were the Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald.

The CFO is an organization led by and made up of workers, and our priority is to organize our base. Financial resources are an important complement to our efforts. We want to continue resisting globalization and corporations, and to continue growing the CFO in all directions. You or your organization can be partners in our strategic struggle towards a future with dignity and without exploitation. Invest in the CFO! You can make a donation now by sending a check together with the enclosed form, or by using your credit card by visiting http://www.cfomaquiladoras.org/inviertaenjusticia.html

(translated from Spanish)

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