No Lethargy

In Mexico City, an employer got a union's permission last week to fire 5,000 of its 23,000 members. The employer was ramrod-backed Antonio Bermudez, boss of Pemex, Mexico's Government oil monopoly. The union was the Mexican Petroleum Workers' Syndicate, until recently one of the fastest-striking labor organizations in Mexico.

Bermudez' extraordinary action went back to one day last December, when, hot-tempered Union Boss Jorge Ortega tossed one of his lightning strikes at the new Aleman Government. Unlike its predecessors, the Aleman Government struck right back. Soldiers rode gas trucks, broke the strike. A more compliant leader took Ortega's place. But Pemex was still cluttered with an accumulation of political hacks dating far back to other administrations. Antonio Bermudez, working 12 to 14 hours daily, laid careful plans. Last week, with President Aleman's support, he got what he wanted.

Out, in the next 60 days, will go some 4,000 "emergency" field laborers. Out, too, will go 200 so-called "confidential employees" attached to the central office. The union agreed to the firings partly because it lost last year's strike, partly because it knew that the Government was solidly behind Bermudez.

The $4,000,000 saved in salaries Bermudez hopes to plow back into badly needed new equipment. Most important of all, he expects his move to galvanize Pemex's notoriously lethargic working force. "We have more oil than Venezuela, and it is our job to get it up. ... When I get through," he says, "every man in Pemex is going to be on his toes, anxious to win a good record and improve the organization."

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