On February 16, 1998, hundreds of railroad workers in
Empalme, Sonora, Mexico, marched out of their union hall to the railroad yards a few
blocks away. Shouting "paro," which means work stoppage in Spanish, to their
fellow workers, a group set up a human blockade on the main track. Thus began a three-week
wildcat strike that involved thousands of railroad workers and their supporters.
Writer Dan La Botz, who lives in Ohio and has written many articles on the Mexican
labor movement, visited with many of the strikers in March. |