Telmex, a subsidiary of América Móvil, has faced two strike calls in less than two months. One of them for alleged violations of the collective bargaining agreement and the other for the alleged freezing of 1,942 vacancies, according to information disseminated on social networks by workers associated with the Telephone Operators Union of the Mexican Republic (STRM) .
The STRM has made summonses for three years and the workers had chosen June 7 of this year to materialize it, however, the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare achieved a dialogue between Telmex and the unionists to reach an agreement and avoid the strike. of activities.
The meeting was held on June 22. In it, the union and Telmex agreed to increase the salary 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 is still necessary to review part of the contract and review the vacancies held.
According to an analysis of Telmex’s labor liabilities, carried out in May this year by Oxford Competition Economics, the financial impact that the incorporation of 1,942 new workers to the current workforce, as well as the incorporation of another 1,661 workers, would have for the company unionized during the next two years, it would be 0.16% of Telmex’s total labor liabilities.
But neither of the two parties have managed to reach an agreement and the union launched a second strike call for next July 21. Expansión asked Telmex for a position on the demands and complaints of union workers but until the publication of this text it did not receive a response.
They ask for full pensions
According to information from the STRM, which has 60,000 active and retired workers, clause 149 BIS established in 2009 stipulates that the worker who has 29 years of service or 60 years of age will have the right to be retired.
But 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 has Telmex for the retirement fund and for which it could not incorporate new workers.
Declaration of preponderance, the reason behind Telmex’s problems with its union?
The Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) declared América Móvil as a preponderant economic agent in 2014, that is, a company that has more than 50% of the telecommunications market share and for which it should be subject to specific measures such as the functional separation (Telmex-Telnor), sharing infrastructure with other operators in the sector, among others, in order to reduce their market share.
This situation, according to the STRM, caused a deficit of 111,000 million pesos in contributions to the STRM retirement and pension fund, while Telmex has allocated part of its profits to its operation to keep in line with the needs of connectivity requested by users.
