This article was written by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, and originally published in Spanish, on November 13th, 2014 in La Jornada

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Shared Responsibility and Social
Harmony
NAPOLEÓN GÓMEZ URRUTIA
Thursday, 13​th​
November 2014
There is a serious debate in Mexico today around the problems resulting from insecurity,
unemployment, poverty, inequality and the profound economic crisis affecting large industrial
groups, rural areas, services and the population alike. Serious questions, a sense of widespread
doubt and a lack of certainty about where the nation is headed are having a significant impact on
the mood and optimism of the Mexican people. Now, more than ever, we need to find our way
again, restore respect and democracy, demand that justice be served objectively and cleanly, and
put an end to the impunity and corruption that have done such damage to our country’s image,
both at home and beyond our borders.
A serious assessment and analysis of the situation is needed, one which takes in all the issues
that affect home and international affairs, in order to pave the way for new economic production
models, and new ways to generate and distribute wealth. Inequality, unchecked ambition and
greed, and a failure to respect or observe the rule of law, are not helping to foster the changes
necessary for the survival, wellbeing or happiness of society.
There’s no time to lose. Political and economic policy must urgently be geared towards
establishing this new model of shared prosperity, which can contribute to re­establishing balance
and making real change happen, thereby offering greater equality and social harmony.
If we all made a concerted push in the same direction – government, business, trade unions,
social justice and human rights organisations –, the situation and Mexico’s future could become
a project, with short, medium and long term programmes for change. This is precisely the
background to the fact that on 7​th​
November, Mexico’s third Annual Conference on Cooperation
and Shared Responsibility for Working and Economic Productivity was held in Vancouver,
Canada. This initiative of the National Miners Union, which I am honoured to lead, was
voluntarily attended by the executive and non­executive directors of 43 Mexican and foreign
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companies, 35 general secretaries of different sections of the Miners Union, 18 special and
regional delegates, and 12 of the 13 members of the National Executive Committee.
The sessions were a great success. Although their vision and passion were firmly focused on
Mexico, the level of participation of company directors and trade union leaders in a location
outside of the country was staggering, and their contributions highly original. Special guests and
speakers included Ken Neumann, the national director of the USW (United Steel Workers) of
Canada, and Steve Hunt, the director of District 3 of the same union. Alongside them, the
distinguished lawyers David Martin from Canada and Marco del Toro from Mexico helped to
enrich the level of the meeting. This gave all the delegates an extra injection of strength and
energy, contributing to a renewed sense of optimism within the mining, metalwork and steel
industries, the country’s third largest source of revenue, as well as reinvigorating the search for
strategies and means to overcome obstacles to economic development.
The third of its kind to be hosted by the city at the miners’ initiative, the Vancouver conference
clearly established means of mutual collaboration between companies and the trade union, which
will lead to increased productivity and efficiency for all, new opportunities and the creation of
jobs that are based on fundamental respect for workers’ rights, continuous improvement of
labour conditions, selecting high performance teams, training a new generation of trade union
leaders, and of course, reciprocal cooperation to generate greater prosperity for all, alongside
better, more equitable methods for sharing the benefits of progress.
In truth, I’m not sure how many other trade union organisations, if indeed any, have championed
as important a conference as this one. There is no doubt that Mexico needs this capacity for
organisation and for promoting new ideas, ideas that bring about change and which boost our
energy and enthusiasm, enabling us to forge ahead. No one present was in any doubt that this
was a truly innovative initiative, and even the sceptics, if there were any, left in a positive,
constructive and highly committed frame of mind.
The attendance of big corporations like Autlán, Frisco, Fertinal, Compañía Occidental Mexicana,
Bombardier Corporation, Gold Corp, Arcelor Mittal, Mexichem, Minas de Bacis, First Majestic,
Primero Mining, Molymex and many more, is a sign of this genuine concern for the nation’s
future. It would be highly laudable and positive if the dialogue that prevailed in Vancouver could
be transposed to other key sectors of economic activity. This would allow us all to be part of
creating new hope, and forging structures for respect and understanding that will help to build a
better country.
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