By Miguel Juarez, Editor
Noticias Fronteradice reported that El Pasoan and Labor Attorney Susana Prieto Terrazas has been detained in Matamoros and has been taken to Victoria, Tamaulipas, the state capital to be arraigned. She has been accused of trumped charges against public servants, riots and threat and coercion of individuals by the Attorney General of the State of Tamaulipas.
A march calling for her release is planned for tomorrow at 8 a.m. in Cd. Juarez. Prieto Terrazas has been at the forefront of the 20/32 labor movement. With workers throughout Mexico she helped to organize the National Independent Syndicate of Workers Industrial and Service Workers 20/32 (SNITIS – Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y Servicios Movimiento 20/32).
Yesterday at 4:22 p.m. Central Time, Prieto Terrazas recorded a video which she posted on social media showing several members of the municipal police surrounded her and telling her that they would be issuing a warrant for her arrest. Prieto Terrazas, her husband and daughter had stopped at El Gecko, a restaurant four blocks away from her Matamoros office, when they were surrounded by armed officers in the parking lot. Prieto Terrazas told the men she was unaware of the details or the motivations for her arrest. In the video, she was presented with documents but she told police that she had never been served.
Prieto-Terrazas has fought and advocated on behalf of workers’ rights in the maquiladoras, much to the disdain of corrupt labor unions, as well as local, and state government officials who have historically abused workers’ rights. She has been in daily communication with maquila workers via her YouTube Channel where she informs them on their rights surrounding labor issues and under Covid-19. In more recent days, she has posted the names and photographs of countless maquila workers who have died of Covid-19. U.S. companies have engaged in unfair and deceptive practices against workers to force them to sign unfavorable labor agreements during the epidemic.
On Monday at 6:30 a.m. she uploaded a video filming workers outside the Fisher Dynamics México, S. de R.L. de C.V. plant in Matamoros. Michigan-based Fischer has been deemed a “new essential company,” and should have had 35% of its employees working and not 100%. Prieto Terrazas had returned to Matamoros to denounce irregularities against previous agreements and personal issues against her.
Northern Mexico states have been in the red with a high number of cases of Covid-19, but most companies have lured workers back to work by threatening them with the loss of their jobs. In recent weeks, companies like Fisher Dynamics have employed 100 percent of their workers, although the State of Tamaulipas is currently in its peak (Phase 3) of Covid-19 cases and the numbers of workers were required to be much less.
Fisher Dynamics México, S. de R.L. de C.V. is located in Matamoros, TAMAULIPAS, Mexico and is part of the Abrasives Manufacturing Industry. Fisher Dynamics México, S. de R.L. de C.V. which generates $20.00 million in sales (USD). Michael Robert Fischer is the President of the company. Workers from Fischer had been home for two months, but the company refused to pay SNITIS members 100% of their pay as directed by Mexican government.
We will continue to report on this developing story.
