Telmex unionized workers are on strike . The Union of Telephone Operators of the Mexican Republic ( STRM ) announced on its Twitter account that the stoppage of activities began at noon.
“We are fighting and we are going to defend our rights,” wrote the union, which brings together 60,000 active and retired workers.
The STRM had made a due to alleged violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that it maintains with Telmex, a subsidiary of América Móvil. The company was not immediately available for comment, however, hours later it said in a brief statement that it “maintains a respectful relationship with its workforce” and that it would resume negotiations with union representation to “reach an agreement.”
After the announcement of the outbreak of the strike, hundreds of workers went to the Telmex offices in Mexico City to demonstrate.
Telmex had avoided another strike call scheduled for June 7, after it agreed to increase the wages of active and retired workers by 4.5% to avoid a strike. However, the general secretary of the STRM, Francisco Hernández Juárez, considers that, beyond the salary increase, it was still necessary to review part of the contract and discuss the alleged freezing of 1,942 vacancies, according to information disseminated on social networks by workers associated with the organization. .
In addition, the leader of the STRM has said that Telmex wants the retirement of newly hired workers to be supported by the individual pension, that is, by their Afore and only complement it with a part of the company’s money, this to reduce the liability that the company has for the retirement fund and for which it could not incorporate new workers.
Luisa Alcalde, head of the Labor Secretariat, confirmed hours after the strike broke out that the office would be the mediator between Telmex and the union in order to reach a solution “in the next few hours.”
The company assured in a statement that “the quality and continuity” of all its telecommunications services were guaranteed thanks to its “state-of-the-art technology, which allows it to have a network that operates autonomously.”
