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The 1766 Real del Monte strike occurred when silver miners in the province of New Spain went on strike for better working conditions. Real del Monte was a prosperous mining city under the Spanish crown, located in east-central Mexico—-today a municipality in the state of Hidalgo. The mines were owned and controlled by the Count de Regla, Pedro Romero de Terreros from 1735 until Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. He is considered by many to be one of the richest and most powerful Spaniards in the colonies at the time of the strike, and is noted for his incredible business skill in restoring his bankrupt uncle’s estate to one of the most prosperous silver producing regions in the whole of Spanish America (Ladd). The strike in 1766 though, in which miners protested changes in labor and wage practices under Terreros, is considered by many to be the first real labor strike in North American history, as it was not only a work stoppage, which had occurred in many places before, but an organized attempt at renegotiating labor contracts and conditions. == Background == The viceroyalty of New Spain was created after Cortés’s defeat of the Aztec Empire in 1521. From the end of the 17th century through the beginning of the 19th, over fifty thousand tons of silver were exported from Spanish mines in the Americas to Europe and beyond (Garner, 899). The mining town of Real del Monte was settled in the late 16th century, but did not become a hub until de Torreros’s arrival. Real del Monte mines are estimated to have produced more than one billion troy ounces of silver since the 16th century, the majority of which was produced under the direction of the Spanish crown (Garner 901). Due in large part to the prosperous silver mines, the viceroyalty of New Spain generated the most income for the Spanish crown of all the colonial holdings. Mines in Mexico were the most profitable in large part because government expenditures were less compared to that of the mines in Peru and other colonies. This was for two reasons: one, that higher-grade mercury was accessible and therefore implemented in Mexican mines and not Peruvian ones, and two, the Spanish Crown granted Mexican mines a special concession in 1548, lowering the royalty percentage they were required to pay (Richard Garner, 906). Because of this, mine owners and overseers in Mexico, such as the Count de Regla, became much more independently wealthy, and more politically powerful, than their Peruvian counterparts. The mines at Real del Monte are an example of the diverse specialization within the silver industry, as Real del Monte had thirty different specialized tasks carried out by different skilled laborers (Ladd 7). Real del Monte was ethnically diverse, with creoles, mestizos, and indigenous peoples working alongside one another. By 1766, one hundred and thirty three black slaves also worked in the mines—a much larger number than the average among the mines of New Spain. Mexican Indians also continued to be forced into labor there for many years, even after mandates attempted to limit forced labor in favor of the Jesuit and Franciscan Reductions. The workers within Real del Monte were divided into barras, work gangs of five or six men. The majority worked in the trenches and were tasked with filling a roughly one hundred pound bag each twelve-hour shift and carrying it up 1800 notched steps steeply built in to the side of the mine (Ladd 11). Workers were paid in cash as well as partidos, half of the higher-grade silver ore they mined each day outside of the quota bag. Many workers reported serious ailments and injuries resulting from working in the mines, specifically heart and lung trouble. The most cited issue was “excessive toil and fatigue” (Making of a Strike 14). Ladd, in her analysis of the working conditions during this period, states that the continued danger workers faced was their primary bargaining ground for demanding fair wages (Ladd 20). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Real del Monte 1766 Strike」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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