Although for decades the dangers to which the country’s mining workers are exposed have become evident, improving their labor and safety rights has not been a priority for the Congress of the Union. From 2006 to date, a dozen initiatives in this area have been discarded, with another three more that remain in the freezer.
Following the death of 65 Pasta de Conchos mining workers in Coahuila, in February 2006, the then deputy Laura Elena Martínez Rivera (PRI) called on the legislators of the LIX Legislature in San Lázaro to reform the Mining Law in order to establish sanctions against companies that fail to adopt safety measures and commit negligence that lead to accidents that affect miners.
In the same period, the PRD deputy, Sergio Augusto Magaña Martínez, presented a project to prevent mining accidents from going unpunished when they were caused by the action or omission of the mining concessionaires.
However —and despite the Pasta de Conchos tragedy— both initiatives remained frozen in commissions for five years, until they were scrapped in 2011.
For the LXI Legislature, deputy Pedro Ávila Nevárez (PRI), stated that the miner’s salary should be increased according to the danger of his work; that the distribution of profits be annual and that the State should designate exclusive supervisors for the mining branch so that labor regulations are complied with. The project was rejected in July 2012.
In 2016, during the LXIII Legislature, deputy Ana María Boone Godoy (PRI) proposed to sanction those responsible for the operation and supervision of mining works and developments that do not implement security measures provided for in the regulations, with fines of up to 5,000 units of measurement and updating, when due to its omission a work risk occurs that caused one or more workers to lose their lives.
These initiatives, among others, were scrapped shortly after being presented.
in the freezer
Currently, in the Congress of the Union there are three initiatives regarding the protection of miners that remain pending legislation.
In 2012, the then deputies Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera and Jesús Murillo Karam, both from the PRI, presented an initiative to prohibit both the rudimentary extraction of coal in vertical shafts at depths less than 100 meters.
In addition to establishing that the holders of the mining concessions will be jointly and severally liable for the partial or total permanent disability, or the death of their workers.
And apply prison sentences of 3 to 6 years and fines when the death of one or several mining workers occurs by omission; imprisonment of 6 to 9 years, when one or several mining workers die for extracting coal using rudimentary prohibited methods, without having licenses. This proposal is in commissions of San Lázaro until now.
Also in 2012, the PAN Parliamentary Group proposed to prohibit miners from working in vertical shafts at depths less than 100 meters.
An example of this type of mine, it is appropriate to refer, is the one located in Agujita in Sabinas, Coahuila, where on August 3 a landslide, which caused its flooding, left 10 miners trapped.
In the case of this initiative, since October 2018 it has been pending analysis in the San Lázaro commissions.
During the LXIV Legislature, the Congress of Sonora sent to San Lázaro a proposal to reform the Federal Rights Law to expand the purposes to which the resources from the Fund for the Sustainable Regional Development of Mining States and Municipalities may be allocated, and thus establish that they should be used to improve the welfare of people who worked as miners or their families.
In addition to proposing that direct monetary support may be granted to former mining workers equivalent to two monthly minimum wages.
This project remains pending analysis in the Treasury and Public Credit Commission of the Chamber of Deputies since 2018.
Sabinas mine flooded again
After reporting that the water levels inside the El Pinabete mine, located in Agujita in the municipality of Sabinas, Coahuila, where 10 workers have been trapped for more than 11 days, increased abruptly, civil protection stated that it is already preparing a new strategy to rescue the miners.
The national coordinator of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez, told the families that “we are not going to abandon them.”
In turn, he said that the El Pinabete mine has extraordinary conditions due to its adjoining, to the south, with the Conchas Norte mine, which was abandoned approximately 30 years ago and from where the water has leaked.
Yesterday in a statement, the Government of Coahuila announced that the “abrupt” increase in liquid occurred during the early hours of yesterday.
The relatives of the miners said they were “desperate because of the slowness of the rescue maneuvers.”
“We did not want to give information, or anything, because in a certain way we wanted to give them (authorities) their place to help us quickly, but we got tired (of so many days) and decided to leave because we already need our relatives,” said Martha María Huerta, wife of one of the miners.
maritza.perez@eleconomista.mx
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