The Instituto de las Mujers, D.F. or Women's Institute was
formed in 1998 as a result of pressure by the women's
movement and the international commitments of the Mexican
government to improve conditions for women, to eradicate
violence, and to promote public policies to provide for
equal opportunity, the full exercise of rights, conditions
which make the absence of discrimination possible, and
equitable participation by women in the social, economic,
political, cultural and family arenas. It is the only
organization of its type in Latin America, providing
direct services to women including legal and psychological
assistance in cases of divorce or domestic violence and
group services and trainings to assist women in learning
about and exercising their rights.
In July, 2002, the 200 predominantly women workers at the
Women's Institute initiated an organizing campaign through
the services union which is affiliated with the Frente
Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT).
They encountered a serious legal barrier when the Mexico
City labor board held that it did not have jurisdiction
over their case. However, the union appealed, and in May
2003 won a resounding legal victory, clearly giving
workers in their situation (a decentralized local entity
which receives funding from both the government and other
sources) the right to organize under the protections of
part A of Article 123 of the federal labor law, under the
jurisdiction of the local labor board.
The local then filed a notice that they were prepared to
strike on July 2, in the event that they were not able to
agree upon a contract, but agreed upon a postponement in
order to participate in the Labor Board's conciliation
process.
However, after having participated in five conciliation
sessions, on July 28th the workers issued the following
press release:
TO ALL WOMEN
TO ALL ORGANIZATIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY
"The women and men who work at the Women's Institute of
Mexico City have filed a strike notice with respect to
this decentralized institute which is part of the public
administration of the Mexico City government, asking that
it should sign a collective bargaining agreement. The
strike notice was originally for the 2nd of July, but was
postponed due to the conciliation hearings (before the
labor board), and is now set for the 7th of August at
10:00 a.m."
"The administration of Inmujeres, D.F. received notice
from the Local Conciliation and Arbitration Board on the
23rd of June, as a result of which the two sides have
engaged ? since June 25th ? in five conciliation hearings,
in which the Negotiations Committee (composed of Angeles
Hernández, Yina Méndez, Julia Escalante, Mary Carmen
Sánchez, Imelda Camargo, and Angélica Sierra) have brought
to the table the good will and proposals of the workers of
Inmujeres D.F.
"This consists of a proposal for a collective bargaining
agreement which guarantees job stability, bilateral
relations, and the recognition of our right to unionize;
all of this with the conditions which we actually have at
present ? that is to say?with present benefits, such as
wages, vacations, days off, bonuses, eight hour day
including lunch, maternity leave, sick leave. In that
this should not represent an additional budgetary cost
with respect to the 220 workers who are considered part of
the work force, and without modifying the actual structure
of Inmujeres D.F., the General Director Lic. Luz Beatriz
Rosales Esteva committed to requesting the necessary
funding from the appropriate authorities.
"Despite the fact that the process of negotiations which
we have engaged in has demonstrated the commitment to
conduct negotiations to improve and institutionalize the
Institute for the benefit of the women of this City, the
authorities, represented by the Director General and by
the Director of Coordination for the 16 offices of the
Institute in each political district, Lic. Claudia
Dominguez, have warned that this movement which claims our
labor rights puts at risk the longevity of the Institute,
since for the Government of this City it is not considered
a priority and that it could disappear if it should become
a political problem for the leaders of the government.
"For this reason we publicly request that the Head of the
Government of Mexico City, Lic. Andrés Manuel López
Obrador reaffirm his commitment to the women of this City,
including those who collaborate and contribute so that
this government should truly be the "Government of Hope."
"Unique in structure and innovator in Latin America,
Inmujeres D.F. was born out of PROMUJER during the
administration of Cuautémoc Cárdenas, and was reinforced
with the arrival of Rosario Robles as head of Government.
"At the same time there exists a legal framework and
international treaties adopted by Mexico which mandate
that those who govern this country legislate regarding
matters of prevention, sanction and eradication of
discrimination and violence against women as well as the
promotion, and dissemination which guarantees the free
exercise of their rights through the creation of public
policies and affirmative actions in favor of women for
their full development under conditions of equal
opportunity. From this, also, came the creation of
Inmujeres Nacional as well as those, which have been
established in the interior of the Republic.
"This great accomplishment is the fruit of a struggle of
more than 30 years by the feminist movement, the broad
movement of women and socially conscious and supportive
organizations, and from this stems the importance of its
permanence. Because of this and because most of the women
and men who work at InMujeres D.F. participated in this
struggle, and consistent with the principles and values
which generated its creation, we have made the decision
today to reclaim our rights, after more than 4 years after
the creation of this organism, together will the
possibility that the law provided to us after the approval
on the 28th of February, 2002, through which InMujer D.F.
was converted from a decentralized entity within the
Secretary of Social Development to InMujeres D.F., a
Decentralized Organism, located in the Secretary of
Government, with autonomy of action and administration,
budget, and its own facilities and juridical character.
"The movement since last November has gone through a legal
process before the Local Labor Board which first declared
that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and turned it
over to the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal
which also declared that it lacked jurisdiction, and so it
arrived at the Sixth Collegial Tribunal on Work Matters of
the First Circuit (Federal Judicial Authority) which under
the jurisprudential thesis XXV/98 which can be found at
page 122 of Volume VII, of the Judicial Weekly of the
Federation and its gazette of April 1998, Ninth session
which held that: decentralized organisms of a local
character, their labor relations are governed by Part "A"
of article 123 of the constitution, pursuant to which it
was declared that the Local Board was competent to hear
our case.
"This meant that we won the appeal and would be recognized
by the Local Board as workers who were members of Local VI
of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Casas Comerciales,
Oficinas y Expendios, Similares y Conexos del DF, whose
registration had been issued by the same entity. Thus, on
May 8th our legal representative received notice of our
right to file a strike notice in support of our demand for
a collective bargaining agreement, recognizing with this:
its competence to consider our case, the legality of our
union's registration, and our relationship as workers of
INMUJERES D.F.
"We have now participated in five conciliation hearings
without the authorities of the Institute presenting a
counterproposal to that which we presented which contains
the minimal conditions which the law requires in order to
have job security and recognition of our rights
concerning freedom of association. What they did present
before the Board was a proposal for a Process of
Integration and Assertive Communication within INMJUERES
DF. There exists a profound difference with respect to
the proposed collective bargaining agreement. Although
this contains proposals which were made by the union in
the month of November, it also contains situations that
the institute itself should resolve within its own
institutional framework (operations manuals, procedural
manuals, internal rules of INMJUERES DF, etc.), and at no
time does it include the principal demand of the movement:
job security, better working conditions, benefits, absence
of discretion, etc.
"The next hearing will be the 28th of July in the Local
Conciliation and Arbitration Board, and we hold out hope
despite the fact that the Director has said in the
hearings and before personnel at the Institute that she
does not have the duty to sign an agreement, nor has she
put forward a counter proposal in order to resolve the
conflict prior to our strike date. In the framework of
the last hearing we were able to get representatives from
the central government, from the departments of oficilia,
contraloria and gobierno, to obtain a meeting for us with
Lic. Alejandro Encinas, about which the authorities had
spread the word that they would also attend, although this
had not been negotiated at the conciliation table.
"Certain that our process is totally valid and legal, we
denounce the lack of political will with which the
authorities have acted. We know that they intend to push
us to the edge of a strike. We also know that the Local
Conciliation and Arbitration Board can "receive the line.
"Similarly, we know of the mechanisms of coercion that the
authorities can exert on certain organizations that are in
the Program of Financing and Coinvestment of the Instituto
de las Mujeres del DF and other parts of the Secretaría de
Social Development.
"Nevertheless, we understand the context in which all
non-governmental organizations live, both political and
financial, and request your solidarity to the extent which
is possible, and if you are in the before-mentioned
situation, that you do so by staying to the side. Today
we are the women workers whose rights they intend to
violate, tomorrow it may be other sisters, irrespective of
where they are.
"We appreciate in advance your sisterhood, your attention,
and that you follow our process.
Sincerely,
OUTREACH COMMITTEE
PRESS COMMITTEE"
TAKE ACTION! Send a letter to the Mexican government in
support of the Sindicato Inmujeres-DF
Letters should be sent to:
Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador
lopezobrador@df.gob.mx
With a copy to: Lic. Luz Rosales Esteva Directora General
del Inmujeres-DF
inmujeres@df.gob.mx and
luz_esteva@hotmail.com
And a blind copy to: Sindicato Inmujeres-DF
sindicatoinmujeres@hotmail.com
A sample letter is below (English translation follows)
Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal
Estimado Lic. López Obrador:
Le escribo acerca de la situación que existe con respeto a
Inmujeres-DF. Sabemos que las trabajadoras del Instituto
de las Mujeres del Distrito Federal, congruentes con el
objetivo del Instituto y dada la importancia de la labor
que realizan a favor de las mujeres de la ciudad, se han
organizado para mejorar las condiciones de trabajo
actuales, formando su asociación sindical para proteger la
estabilidad en el trabajo.
Reconocemos la importancia de la creación del Inmujeres-DF
en Marzo de 1998, como resultado de los tratados y
convenios internacionales firmados por México y de la
lucha del movimiento de mujeres. Siendo el único en
América Latina que tiene un modelo de atención directa a
las mujeres: realizando acciones que mejoren la condición
de vida de las mujeres, posibiliten la no discriminación,
erradiquen la violencia, y fomenten el ejercicio pleno de
todos los derechos de las mujeres y su participación
equitativa en los ámbitos social, económico, político,
cultural y familiar.
Reconocemos tambien el compromiso con el proyecto del
Inmujeres-DF de parte del Gobierno democrático que ha
ofrecido mayores expectativas para las mujeres de la
Ciudad.
Por esto, pedimos la sensibilidad, congruencia y
compromiso, con el Instituto y con las mujeres que
trabajan allá para negociar un contrato colectivo con base
de respeto y reconocimiento del ejercicio pleno de los
derechos laborales.
Atentamente,
(put your name and organization, if any, here)
****************************
Translation, in case you can't read Spanish:
Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal
Dear Lic. López Obrador:
I am writing to you regarding the situation at
Inmujeres-DF.We are aware that the women at the Instituto
de las Mujeres del Distrito Federal, in accordance with
the objectives of the Institute and given the importance
of the work that they perform on behalf of women in the
city, have organized in order to improve their conditions
of work, forming a union in order to protect their job
security.
We recognize the importance of the creation of
Inmujeres-DF in March of 1998, as a result of the treaties
and international conventions signed by Mexico and of the
struggle waged by the women?s movement. It is the only
entity in Latin America which has as a model the direct
attention to women: providing services which improve the
lives of women, and creating the possibility of an absence
of discrimination, eradication of violence and promotion
of the full rights of women and their equal participation
in the social, economic, political, cultural and family
arenas.
We also recognize the commitment to Inmujeres-DF on the
part of the democratic Government, which has offered
greater hope to women in Mexico City.
Therefore, we ask for the sensitivity, consistency and
commitment with the Institute and with the women who work
there to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement based
on respect and recognition of the full exercise of labor
rights.
Sincerely,
