Workers at Mexico's sugar mills ended a 9-day strike which had threatened the start of the upcoming harvest, the Labour Ministry said on Friday. Workers at Mexico's 58 sugar mills went on strike on November 16 to pressure mill owners for payment of pensions and better wages.
The strike came just weeks before the official start of the 2006/07 harvest and affected 45,000 workers. The ministry said in a brief statement that a newly created commission will review workers' pensions. The workers walked out to persuade mill owners to respect a labour contract clause requiring pensions be paid to workers over the age of 60 with more than 35 years on the job.
The union has said 3,000 workers who qualify for the pension have not received payments. Mexican cane workers see the 2006/07 sugar crop at 5.3 million-5.5 million tonnes. The government has forecast a bumper crop of 5.8 million tonnes, the same as the record set in 2004/05. The US Department of Agriculture also sees a big Mexican crop of 5.75 million tonnes raw value. The last sugar mill strike in Mexico was in 2000.
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