CWA Techs Help Mexico’s STRM Prepare for Talks

Concerned about how new technology will affect their jobs when they bargain a new contract this spring, Mexican telephone workers turned to CWA for some expert advice.

The result was five jam-packed days in Mexico in late January for two SBC technicians from Texas who rushed from job sites to union meetings to help the Telmex workers — members of the Mexican telecom union STRM — prepare to protect their jobs.

"I've never been received in such a manner. Their welcome was tremendous," said Gerry Alonzo, president of CWA Local 6110 in Laredo, Texas, who was accompanied by local Secretary-Treasurer Arely Erazo. Both men are fluent in Spanish.

The Mexican workers wanted to know how CWA members dealt with new technology — for instance, how the introduction of laptop computers in trucks affects their work and contracts. STRM will begin negotiating its new contract in April.

"We spoke to the pros and cons," Alonzo said. "We elaborated on how easy it is for us to pick up jobs and close them out, and use the tools in the laptop to get cable information and run electrical and resistance tests."

On the "con" side of technology is the loss of some jobs, particularly plant assigners as their work has become more automated and centralized, Alonzo said.

Erazo said STRM members are anxious about the new technology, because it's coming to them much faster than it came to American workers. "We've been getting it in a progressive way, and they're getting it suddenly," he said. "They're going through a lot of changes."

STRM President Francisco Hernandez-Juarez said the exchange has strengthened his union's knowledge and bargaining position. "Now we have a clearer picture of the changes that are coming in the workplace and we are better prepared to face them with the participation of the workers and the union," he said. "We appreciate very much CWA's solidarity and support."

Francisco Perez-Santiago, an outside plant technician who's worked 19 years at Telmex, said that, "To learn and to share with technicians like us was amazing. We were speaking the same language and seeing that we have very similar problems and much in common as workers."

Telmex is partially owned by SBC. The two companies, CWA and STRM held a joint meeting last year in San Antonio, and technicians from Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, have also met previously. CWA and STRM hope to have future exchanges for members in call centers and other sectors of the companies, as well as a trip to Texas for some of the Mexican technicians.

Besides the technical and bargaining skills unions can learn from each other, CWA District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn said such exchanges create important bonds. "It's one thing for union leaders worldwide to get together and talk to each other and agree on things, but true support comes from the rank and file," he said. "To build union solidarity globally, it takes getting the workers involved."