Breaking: Court rules for union in Mexico strike, mine open

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1447645320080214

MEXICO CITY, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A Mexican court accepted a union appeal on Thursday allowing workers to continue a strike at the giant Cananea pit without being fired but the company says the mine is still slowly producing copper.

The court overturned an earlier ruling by a government labor board in January that declared the five-month-long strike illegal.

After the labor board ruling, and a brief scuffle between striking workers and police, Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) retook control of the mine and is ramping up output with a skeleton staff, producing just under 300 tonnes of copper a day.

"This ruling says that those who want to keep working can, and those who are on strike can stay on strike," Cristina Rocha, a company lawyer told Reuters.

"But this is not a definitive ruling," she said.

The court's decision in favor of the union is only the latest chapter in a back-and-forth legal battle over the legality of the strike in which the government labor board has sided with the company while courts backed union requests for injunctions.

FULL 2 page story at link.