Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación

The Mexican National Educational Workers Union (SNTE) is the largest trade union in Latin America, with over 1.4 million members. Formed in 1949, the SNTE is composed of local sections in each of Mexico's states. For much of its history, the SNTE has been a corporatist union allied with the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and has been accused of having government-appointed charro leaders and anti-democratic tendencies. This resulted in a movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s in which sections from several states began demanding democratic reforms in the union structure. This movement resulted in the fall of SNTE leader Carlos Jongitud Barrios in 1989. He was replaced by the current leader of the SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo.