Sebastian Guzman Cabrera

Less than a month after troops arrested the powerful chief of the oil workers union, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari cemented his victory over labor Thursday when the union elected a new, pro-government secretary general. Sebastian Guzman Cabrera was brought back from forced retirement after the arrest of union boss Joaquin Hernandez Galicia and become the only candidate for the union's top post. Guzman Cabrera won on a unanimous voice vote at a special assembly in the union hall.

Less than a month after troops arrested the powerful chief of the oil workers union, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari cemented his victory over labor Thursday when the union elected a new, pro-government secretary general. Sebastian Guzman Cabrera was brought back from forced retirement after the arrest of union boss Joaquin Hernandez Galicia and become the only candidate for the union's top post. Guzman Cabrera won on a unanimous voice vote at a special assembly in the union hall.

In a further sign of the government's growing manipulation of organized labor here, the leader of the once-mighty oil workers union is expected to resign today to assume a minor government post. Sebastian Guzman Cabrera plans to leave the union's helm for health reasons, said union spokesman Victor Gallardo.

The government has arrested four prominent stockbrokers and is investigating 148 others on charges of illegal trading stemming from the historic crash of the Mexican stock market in October, 1987, a spokesman for the attorney general confirmed Tuesday. The spokesman said federal police detained Eduardo Legorreta, head of Operadora de Bolsa, the country's second-largest brokerage firm, on Monday night.

Tens of thousands of dissident teachers walked out of public schools in a wildcat strike Monday to press their demands for a 100% pay raise and for "union democracy," including the ouster of their pro-government leaders. Thousands of primary and secondary schools in the capital and throughout the country were closed or only partially operating. The states most affected were Mexico, Oaxaca and Chiapas. The dissident teachers, a faction of the National Union of Education Workers, rejected a 10% pay increase offered by the government last week and said they will remain on strike indefinitely.