WEBINAR: Mexican State Journalists... 1,000 Days on Strike and Repressed

What: Webinar co-sponsored by The NewsGuild and Labor Notes
When: Wednesday, October 26 - 8:00pm ET

Hundreds of unionized journalists - many fired for striking against Notimex, the Mexican State News Agency - are marking close to 1000 days of repression and state inaction. The strikers - both those fired and still employed, 80% of whom are women - are struggling to preserve their rights to representation by SutNotimex, their militant, democratic and independent union. Notwithstanding the legality of the strike, the Mexican government has shown no willingness to intervene in the longest strike ever conducted within a public media outlet. Domestic and international media attention has been actively suppressed.

Panelists:

• Adriana Urrea, General Secretary of SutNotimex
• Maurizio Guerrero, former foreign correspondent for Notimex
• Andrew Pantazi, report for the Tributary and member, CWA 3108, The NewsGuild
• Facilitator: Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes
• Interpreter: Alejandra Quintero

Panelists:
Adriana Urrea, SutNotimex General Secretary, was fired along with hundreds of colleagues for leading a strike against state media conglomerate Notimex. She repeatedly faced false charges and has prevailed in every legal process. In May she led protests decrying the murder of three journalists in a single week.

Maurizio Guerrero worked for ten years as the correspondent of Notimex in New York. He now works as an investigative journalist for publications in the U.S., such as In These Times, Prism, and Documented NY. Guerrero graduated from journalism school in Mexico City and holds an M.A. in Latin America, Caribbean and US Latino Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY)

Andrew Pantazi is a reporter at The Tributary, a worker-run investigative newsroom in Jacksonville, Fla. He is a member of CWA 3108 and worked as a NewsGuild organizer. He previously worked as an investigative reporter for The Florida Times-Union for eight years. He worked to organize newsroom unions in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Fort Myers, Naples and Dallas.