FROM EXPLOITING MEXICAN WORKERS TO THE DETRIMENT OF U.S. WORKERS

JOIN TRW WORKERS AND ALLIES MOBILIZATION & ACTIONS

ON SEPTEMBER 16 ERNESTO LIZCANO, a TRW worker from a maquiladora in Reynosa (across the border from McAllen, Texas) will attempt to meet with TRW leaders at TRW headquarters in Livonia, Michigan. The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras is coordinating a day of action and phone-in to support TRW workers.

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Let’s add a brick to the road toward international solidarity.

When illegal working conditions are permitted in U.S.-owned factories in Mexico, it gives companies leverage to withdraw benefits and lower salaries of workers in the United States. Since labor laws are not effectively enforced in Mexico, we are stepping in to demand justice.                             

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      When:  September 16th·National Call-In at 10 am (EST)
 
      How:  Protest in front of TRW headquarters, or anywhere in your community in support of TRW workers’ demands 

     Where: TRW headquarters, 12025 Tech Center Drive, Livonia, Michigan 48150

   CALL AND WRITE: TRW Executives on September 16th at 10:00 a.m.                          and throughout the day supporting workers’ demands:

• John C. Plant, President and Chief Executive Officer TRW Automotive Phone: 734.855.2600. Email: John.plant@trw.com
• Neil Marchuk Exec. VP for Human Resources, Phone: 734.855.3871 (office) 734.748.0676 (cell) 734.855.2473 (fax) Email:  Neil.Marchuk@trw.com
• John Wilkerson, Senior Communication Manager Phone:  734 855 3864. Email: John.Wilkerson@trw.com

Call and write to President Barack Obama 202-456-111, 202-456-1414, Fax 202 456-2461 condemning NAFTA’s failure and demanding Labor and Human Rights and Environmental Protection, Fair Trade, Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice  (sample letter below)

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Call and Email Information

• TRW refuses to recognize and negotiate with the TRW Worker’s Coalition, insisting that the workers are adequately represented by an  “official” union, which is in fact corrupt and has failed to stand up for the workers' rights.
• TRW has closed a plant and is relocating the workers to a former warehouse far from where they live.
• For workers who make less in a week than most U.S. workers make in a   day, the added cost of transportation is a major burden.
          The company will provide transportation for only three months.
• Many of the workers have reason to believe they have been blacklisted and will be unable to find employment in other maquiladoras. This is a typical practice. Full details at http://coalitionforjustice.net
William Jungles, CJM Board Member- Latin American Solidarity Committee of the Western New York Peace Center, Buffalo, NY

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Background:
TRW is denying workers their legal rights. According to the Workers’ Coalition lawyer, TRW is arguing that due to the economic crisis, TRW does not have money to pay the severance payments that TRW owes the workers and TRW is insisting that the workers be relocated from the plant in TRW Del Norte Industrial Park to a plant on the other side of the city, Reynosa Industrial Park.  The company’s request is not in good faith because in the Reynosa Industrial Park plant workers are making lower salaries than in the TRW Del Norte Industrial Park; the collective bargaining there is different from what they have; there is not sufficient space in the Reynosa Industrial Park factory for the relocated workers; and there is not adequate transportation.

TRW is engaging in extortion, blackmail, and is undermining the legal process. The TRW Human Resources representative is talking to friends of the workers who have a legal complaint against TRW, and doing so outside the formal legal process.  She is asking what the needs are of workers in the Workers’ Coalition and then using this information to persuade them to abandon the legal case. She is offering Workers’ Coalition members money and telling them that if they accept this deal they will not be blacklisted because TRW will provide them with a letter of recommendation, and they will be called back to work when TRW regularizes their production.

SAMPLE LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Barack Obama
President of the USA
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
info@messages.whitehouse.gov

Dear Mr. President, 

The NAFTA trade agreement has failed to meet the expectations of economic growth and development. Instead, NAFTA has increased unemployment, economic instability and insecurity, poverty and environmental injustice in the three countries of North America. 

Multinational corporations such as TRW, which is a US corporation based in Livonia, Michigan, have profited from exploiting cheap labor, thanks to free trade agreements. After many years of phenomenal profits, corporations are now laying off workers. In the case of TRW in Mexico, they are laying off workers without the severance payments that the workers are owed by law. 

Trade agreements are about much more than trade. Trade agreements must have mechanisms to address and resolve the social consequences they create. 

We believe that, despite the economic crisis, now is the right time to renegotiate NAFTA and address immigration reforms. 

The evidence of NAFTA's failure is everywhere - people are suffering the real consequences of unregulated and irresponsible free trade policies. 

We call on you to investigate and regulate multinational corporations such as TRW, which is violating workers' rights and operating with impunity in Mexico. 

We also urge you to uphold your commitment to address immigration reform and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement immediately. 

Respectfully, 
[Your Signature]
Support TRW workers’ struggle on September 16th at 10:00 a.m.
Demand justice from TRW headquarters and President Obama