On this day in 1906, Mexican employees of the US-owned Cananea Copper Company went on strike, demanding an end to pay discrimination and an eight-hour day. The strike's repression was a key precursor to the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company (CCCC) was owned by American Colonel William Greene, whose capitalist enterprise was greatly aided by the corrupt Mexican government of Porfirio Díaz. CCCC employed both American and Mexican workers, however senior positions could only be held by Americans and Mexicans were paid 3.5 pesos a day to the Americans' 5.
Cananea was a company town in which workers were forced to live in company housing and buy necessities at the company store. Despite this, the wages offered to Mexican workers were among the highest in the region, making the jobs competitive.
On June 1st, 1906, nearly all of the Mexican employees of CCCC went on strike. Among their demands were an end to pay discrimination, an eight hour day (down from ten), and a guaranteed representation of Mexicans in the workforce. One slogan was "Ocho horas! cinco pesos!" (eight hours, five pesos).
The company flatly rejected all of the workers' demands, and thousands of laborers began to march in protest. Upon arriving at the company's lumber yard, protesters were hosed down by armed management. Violence broke out, and three workers and both managers were killed, the latter stabbed to death with mining implements. Workers then set fire to the lumber yard, causing ~$100,000 in damages.
The strike devolved into a de facto war after deputized company men fired on workers approaching the local bank, jail, and company store. The crowd, mostly unarmed, raided local pawnshops for weapons and proceeded to engage in firefights with a combined force of Mexican Federal Troops, 275 volunteers from Arizona, and CCCC forces.
Estimates of casualties vary, but at least 23 were killed and more than 50 were arrested before the workers were defeated. Green blamed the uprising on "a Socialistic organization that has been formed by malcontents opposed to the Díaz government."; literature of the pro-labor Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) was found in the workers' settlements.
The Cananea Riot became linked with the Río Blanco Strike of January 1907 as symbols of Díaz's corruption and subservience to foreign capital. According to historian Leslie Bethell, both became "household words for hundreds of thousands of Mexicans". Díaz would be forced to resign in 1911.
The mine in Cananea currently continues to be worked for copper and was subject to a miners' strike as recently as 2008.
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- ❤️ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New Monthly queer thread
- 💛 Read about a current topic in the news
- ⭐️ October Movie Nominations ⭐️
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
- 💙Comprehensive list of resources for those in need of an abortion -- reddit link
- 💙Resources for Palestine
Theory:
Just got an email from HR that they overpaid me $200 in January and now they want it back. To which my immediate and I think very reasonable response is “Fuck you how dare you ask that eat my ass fuck off”
How the fuck is you overpaying me my problem? Fuck you. You’re a multibillion dollar university you don’t need to shakedown random lab techs for pocket change! Just eat the $200 and shut the fuck up.
Is this even legal? I feel like it should be an open and shut case of “Not my problem fuck you”
Edit: After digging into the details further, it’s funnier. They actually UNDERpaid me, I switched from being a grad student to staff and they cut off the grad student pay before the staff pay started again even though I was still working. I have an email showing I had a meeting with my boss the day after their records say I should’ve stopped being paid and filled out the new job paperwork that day :matt-jokerfied:
This whole thing is so stupid, because also why the fuck did it take them 9 months to notice. This shit happened in August, but they’re claiming it happened in January, and one part of the email says I was contacted in March and was supposed to pay it in March and April, but I was never contacted during that time so idk what’s up with that.
If they're still paying you, I think they can legally withhold it from a cheque. Otherwise I don't think they can ask for it back. I'd check local labour law though.