Note published on September 12 in El Economista, Empresas [Companies] Section by María del Pilar Martínez.
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Workers accepted the global salary increase of 11%, divided in 9% directly to salary and 2% in benefits; but, unlike previous votes, this time its application was negotiated for the month of July and not for August, as it had been planned.
After three consultations, the intervention of the Department of Labor and Social Welfare and of the Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and Registration, the Volkswagen de México Independent Union of Workers of the Automotive and Allied Industries (Sitiavw) obtained the approval of the majority of the workers in the revision of its collective bargaining agreement.
This means that the call to strike scheduled for September 14, 2022 is no longer in effect; this, thanks to the participation of 6,571 workers in the voting process, in which “yes” won with 4118, while those in disagreement amounted to 2,425, and 282 ballots were not authorized.
Thus, workers accepted the global salary increase of 11%, divided in 9% directly to salary and 2% in benefits; but, unlike previous votes, this time its application was negotiated for the month of July and not for August, as it had been planned.
Interviewed in this regard, the legal representative of the Volkswagen company, Óscar de la Vega emphasized that the long process of contractual negotiation “is the effect of the labor reform, in which the decision-making power was transferred to the worker base and it has been a great learning experience, for the union, for the company and for the authorities in regard to this new way in which negotiation must be conducted.”
He pointed out that “it is a right of the workers, but they must exercise it responsibly in order to maintain peace in the workplace; it is important that there is a realignment of the negotiation strategies to clarify the integral revision to the workers.”
De la Vega, who was present throughout the negotiation, explained that “in spite of having been an extraordinary agreement for the benefit of the workers, the whole mechanism was put to the test, in spite of having worked with an authentic and democratic union.”
He added that the participation of the Reviewing Commission of the VW Union includes the participation of 50 workers, all of whom were democratically elected “this gives us an idea of the importance of the reform, as this is the first revision of this magnitude and the way the labor reform works had to be known to its full extent.”
