Union-busting bill killed -- in Mexico

Massive protests and rallies have forced Mexico's Congress to shelve a a union-busting bill. Today, we learn that the bill to strip workers of their rights ran into severe headwinds from Mexico's workers. On Friday, Mexican lawmakers backed off the legislation.

This was one nasty piece of legislation. It would have allowed new categories of temporary and casual employment. It would have allowed subcontracting. It would have reduced the legally required severance payments to laid-off workers. It would have forced workers to produce lists of their colleagues voting to strike.

Here's what the National Union of Workers (UNT) has to say about the bill:

...this is a regressive proposal that attacks the fundamental rights of workers, reinforces the government’s corporativist control over labor organizations, and which, finally, is conceived within the logic of those who think that the only viable offer, given the continuing economic crisis, is to transfer its costs to the workers, deepening the current policy of wage restraint with a partial modification of the labor law that reduces the costs of labor and converts the workers into an easily disposable resource for the benefit of capital.

Supporters say the bill would provide "flexibility." (Where have we heard that before?)

We're glad our union brothers and sisters in Mexico have prevailed, at least for now. But we still don't want Mexico's dangerous trucks traveling our highways.