Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, October 26, 2024, p. 11
Looking ahead to the elections next Monday to renew the leadership of the oil union, the opposition candidate Cristina Alonso García and dissidents denounced that there are coercion and pressure
against the workers to support the current general secretary, Ricardo Aldana Prieto, who intends to be reelected for five more years as head of the union.
In an interview, unionized staff – who preferred to reserve their names for fear of reprisals – confirmed that the campaign process, which began on October 15 and concludes today, has been marked by harassment, hauling and intimidation
because in the majority of the 36 sections where the successor of the deceased Carlos Romero Deschamps has carried out proselytization “the local leaders have warned us ‘if you are with her, you are against the boss’; In addition, they suspended the delivery of scholarships and savings bank loans.”
Last October 10 The Day reported that during the registration of Aldana Prieto as a candidate for the Green ticket, several of the 36 local leaders closed ranks and went to the headquarters of the Petroleum Workers Union of the Mexican Republic (STPRM) to give their support.
The workers accused that the national leadership used the sectional secretaries to campaign in each one: They bring people together, hold assemblies and there they tell them who to vote for.
. On the other hand, the candidates on the Guinda list deny access to workplaces
as happened in the Tula refinery, accused Alonso García by reiterating that there is no even floor
in the process.
The worker from section 44 in Villahermosa, Tabasco, who will close her campaign today in Mexico City, pointed out that among the irregularities is that the National Electoral Commission of the STPRM has excluded from the register 30 thousand workers who were classified through the Labor Stability Program
of the federal government. According to data from the labor authority, there are 91,193 employees with the right to vote.
A group of workers pointed out that in Poza Rica, Veracruz, personnel related to Aldana They watched us and took photos of those we sympathized with.
with the candidate from the Guinda slate, who made an alliance with the leaders Esbayde Villaverde and Fred Navarro.
They will challenge the process
Separately, Juan Martín Morales, applicant for the Fuerza Oro Negro form who was denied registration due to inconsistencies
accused that the harassment
It has been in all sections. You have to go to the assembly, otherwise they won’t give them loans; They film them, they create lists, they condition our vote through our own benefits.
.
In a conference, he stressed that within the STPRM We have always experienced these types of processes in a very opaque way.
which is why he announced that he will contest the elections.
