Unions representing workers in Canada, Mexico, and US explore merger

The United Steelworkers (USW), which represents 850,000 workers in Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States, and the National Union of Miners and Metal Workers (SNTMMSRM), known as the Mineros, which represents 180,000 workers in Mexico, have announced plans to explore uniting into one international union. The agreement to begin exploration of a merger was signed on June 21. This first step in the creation of a global union -- as opposed to a global federation of unions -- represents a significant new development for labor in the Americas with implications for workers around the world. Building on the 2008 trans-Atlantic merger between Unite in the United Kingdom and the USW, now the USW and the Mineros are working to build a worldwide labor union with the power to confront the concentrated capital of the mining and metal working industries. USW President Leo W. Gerard and Minero general secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia together asserted the two unions continued "common commitment to democracy, equality, and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world."