Telmex workers associated with the Telephone Operators Union of the Mexican Republic have been on strike since Thursday, July 21. The unionized denounced violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, among other demands. What does this mean? Here it is explained.
The strike of the telephone operators began at noon on Thursday, as confirmed on the union’s Twitter account, with the phrase: “We are fighting and we are going to defend our rights.” As there was no agreement, yesterday, the strike broke out.
What are the Telmex workers asking for?
Salary adjustment
Telmex offered a 4.5% salary increase for telephone operators, but the union rejected it, demanding a 7% increase, which is closer to annual inflation.
Recruitment
Another complaint is that Telmex has frozen the hiring of 1,942 vacancies.
However, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare achieved a dialogue between Telmex and the trade unionists to reach an agreement and avoid a stoppage 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.
End to outsourcing
Workers also denounce that, in recent years, the number of active workers has been reduced. While, on the other hand, outsourcing continues, or subcontracting of personnel, without the same labor rights as unionized workers. In addition to the hiring of affiliated companies.
In this sense, the workers argue that the company is doing everything so that the newly hired workers no longer have the same benefits or reach the same levels of retirement.
“They want to dismantle Telmex”
In addition, the telephone workers are also denouncing that the intention of the directors and shareholders is the dismantling of Telephones of Mexico (Telmex), in favor of América Móvil.
For this reason, the workers affirm, the company has not made investments to modernize the infrastructure.
América Móvil was founded in 2000, as a telecommunications company that is now the main one in the business portfolio of magnate Carlos Slim. It is the largest telecommunications company in America and the seventh largest in the world, due to the number of subscribers, which is around 280 million.
