Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Main teachers union blockades railways, mimicking its militant counterpart

Members of Mexico’s largest teachers union, the SNTE, took a leaf out of the playbook of its more dissident counterpart on Tuesday by blocking train tracks to pressure the government to meet its demands.

The militant CNTE teachers union has been successful in obtaining more than 800 million pesos (US $40.9 million) in unpaid bonuses in Michoacán by blocking tracks, the newspaper Reforma reported, noting also that it has won promises from the government related to the allocation of teaching positions in states such as Oaxaca and Chiapas.

In that context, some members of the SNTE teachers union “copied” the railroad blockade strategy in Veracruz, Puebla and Tlaxcala on Tuesday to demand that President López Obrador and Labor Minister Luisa María Alcalde ensure that new labor laws guaranteeing them the right to elect their union leaders in free and secret ballots are adhered to.

Reforma reported that there were blockades on tracks in the Veracruz municipalities of Coatzacoalcos, Fortín, Córdoba and Orizaba as well as in the Puebla municipality of Rafael Lara Grajales and in Huamantla, Tlaxcala. Members of a group called Maestros por México (Teachers for Mexico) – linked to former, long-serving SNTE boss Elba Esther Gordillo, who was absolved of corruption charges in 2018 – led the blockades at several points.

Freight trains transporting products including steel, fertilizers, auto parts and foodstuffs, among other goods, were held up by the blockades.

Protesting teachers warned that rail blockades in states such as Hidalgo, México state, Nuevo León, Jalisco and Michoacán, will follow if the Labor Ministry doesn’t ensure that their demand for union democratization is met. They also called for teachers who were dismissed during the administration of the previous government to be reinstated and for more funds to be allocated to education.

Rail blockades by members of the CNTE union in Michoacán lasted 18 days in early 2019, costing the economy at least 18.5 billion pesos.

Source: Reforma (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
collection center for donations

Here’s how you can help victims of flooding in central Mexico

1
The recent heavy rains in central Mexico left countless victims homeless and in need of supplies. Collection centers have been set up to receive donations of food, clothing and medicine.
a monarch butterfly rests on a flower

Northern states welcome first waves of migrating monarchs

2
Pollinator gardens and wildlife watering stations have been established in the Tamaulipas municipality of Gómez Farías and the nearby El Cielo Biosphere Ecological Park, a UNESCO-recognized area prized for its biodiversity and ecotourism.
DHS agents

DHS: Mexican cartels offering bounties of up to US $50,000 for attacks on US federal agents

42
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement on Tuesday claiming that Mexican criminal networks "have issued explicit instructions to U.S.-based sympathetics, including street gangs in Chicago, to monitor, harass and assassinate federal agents."
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity