Mexico closes state utility company

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon has defended his government's decision to close the Luz y Fuerza del Centro (Central Light and Power Company, LyFC).

Mexico City El Universal reported that Calderon called the decision to close the state-owned utility company "difficult, complicated, but correct," arguing that it was unconscionable that the LyFC's 44,000 employees received the same amount of benefits and privileges resources as the total amount spent by the government on welfare for Mexico's 25 million poor.

Calderon added that one of the elements underlying his decision was the intransigence and lack of cooperation from the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (Mexican Trade Union of Electricians, SME) to improve the utility company's productivity. In contrast, he mentioned the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Social Security Institute, IMSS) as a trade union willing to work with the government for the general good.

Valdemar Gutierrez Fragoso is secretary-general of the IMSS, and was elected in July as a federal deputy for the Partido de Accion Nacional (National Action Party, PAN), also Calderon's party.