Published: 17 Aug 2010
Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be the first of many.
The oil spill of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico might not be the last, unions warn.
Lack of trade union freedoms, insurance and health coverage, low wages, poor training and corrupt practices prevail in Mexico's private oil industry, putting lives and the environment at risk.
"Workers hired by private contractors do not have the training for offshore drilling," Ysmael García, interior secretary of the Mexican seafarers' union, OCPNRM said.
"Contractors and subcontractors are only interested in making money," said García, whose union represents more than 300 members in private companies.
Some 100 platforms operate in the Bay of Campeche, Mexico's main oil-producing region in the Gulf, which employ around 20,000 workers, 4,000 of whom work for the state oil company PEMEX, and the rest for private firms.
