Friday October 16, 07:32 AM
Mass protest in Mexico against power firm closure
MEXICO CITY (AFP) - At least 150,000 people protested in Mexico City against the surprise closure last weekend of a state-run electricity company, police and unions said.
Helicopters hovered above a mass of demonstrators Thursday, many clad in red, carrying Mexican flags and banners slamming President Felipe Calderon as they marched down a main axis to end up in the capital's giant Zocalo square.
The powerful Mexican Electricity Workers Union (SME) said that more than 350,000 people had taken part, while police put the figure at some 150,000.
Some 44,000 active workers and 22,000 retirees were affected by Sunday's closure by presidential decree of Luz y Fuerza, which served more than one fifth of the country.
Police took over the headquarters of the power company shortly beforehand.
"Most employees have been in the company for 20 or 30 years. Who will hire them now?" said Marta Lilia Antunes Vasquez, who protested Thursday alongside her husband who had been dismissed.
"Luz y Fuerza was badly managed but it wasn't the fault of the workers."
The government said it had to close the company because it had been losing around 30 percent of electrical supply due to defects in the system, at a cost of around 25 billion pesos (1.9 billion dollars) per year.
The energy ministry has promised that the larger, state-run Federal Electricity Commission (CFE (Brussels: CFE.BR - news) ) will guarantee a replacement service.
The secretary general of the SME union, Martin Esparza, said Thursday that the conservative federal government had agreed to negotiate, and that he would ask the leftist Mexico City government to mediate.
The federal government said in a statement that dialogue would begin on replacement jobs for dismissed workers.
The government was already at odds with the union before the closure of Luz y Fuerza, and had refused to recognize the election of Esparza as the union's chief due to accusations of fraud.
The union has called for workers to reject pay packages, although some began collecting compensation on Wednesday.
Union leaders have rejected accusations that they will disrupt power services to more than 20 million people.
Tens of thousands of residents of Mexico City and central Mexico have suffered sporadic power cuts since the shutdown.
Between 2003 and 2008, Luz y Fuerza had an income of some 17 billion dollars compared with costs of more than 32 billion dollars, according to official figures.
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