Mexican workers shut down border

On June 6, as many as 20,000 protesters from Tijuana and other parts of the Mexican state of Baja California Norte shut down the busiest border crossing in the world for nearly three hours at the San Ysidro entry into San Diego, Calif. Southbound lanes into Mexico were also closed for two hours.

School teachers and supporters rally June 6. Sign reads in Spanish, ‘The D-I-68 Pre-school delegation manifest their total rejection to the new law of the social security institute for state workers, ISSSTE.’

The protest was mainly organized by Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (National Union of Education Workers) or SNTE, a teachers’ union in Mexico, along with other unions, workers and students.

They were protesting a new law passed in March by Mexico’s new conservative president, Felipe Calderón. The law, Ley del ISSSTE, which stands for Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado, (Social Law of the Institute of Security and Services of the Workers of the State), privatizes the pensions of teachers and other public-sector workers.

The law also extends the age of retirement from 50 to 60. One protester said, “We have to tell the world that the Mexican working class suffers from these new laws.”

Another protester, Luis García, said, “The new law affects not only teachers, but doctors, nurses, federal police and all workers.” Others criticized the law as “anti-constitutional.”

The SNTE says that adding 10 years to the age of retirement will also adversely affect their pensions and health benefits. The SNTE has been organizing demonstrations against Ley del ISSSTE all across Mexico.

As a result of the successful June 6 protest, commuters into Tijuana were stuck on the Interstate 5 freeway, while Tijuana police rerouted northbound travelers to the Otay border crossing 10 miles east.

Traffic there became extremely congested, causing the San Diego police, Border Patrol, California Highway Patrol and San Diego’s Port Authority to swarm to the border to deal with all the cars and pedestrians. On average 30,000 pedestrians, 35,000 vehicles and 250 buses cross the U.S. border each day at the San Ysidro entry.

The Mexican working class is under constant attack as of late—with the attacks on immigrants in the U.S., the triple border fence, rigged Mexican elections, bigoted and racist diatribes from conservative right-wing U.S. talk-show hosts, and Immigration Customs Enforcement raids that are tearing apart immigrant families. This new law, which is a continuation of the attack on Mexican workers, attempts to undermine the unions and reverse the gains won through organized struggle. It is becoming increasingly important for the world’s working class to stand in solidarity with them because the workers’ struggles know no borders.