The president of Audi México, Tarek Mashhour, reiterated his call to the Independent Union of Audi Mexico Workers (Sitaudi), to resume negotiations in regard to the revision of the 2024 agreement as quickly as possible.
The red and black flags were placed on the doors of the automotive plant that manufactures the Audi Q5 luxury van on Wednesday, January 24 at 11:00 hours.
By means of a letter, he emphasized that the company is open to resuming the worktables with the objective of putting an end to the conflict, and therefore, is only waiting for the union representative to accept the invitation.
“We make a call for respect and responsibility to put an end to this labor conflict; thus, our doors are and will remain open for resuming negotiations, always with the objective of returning peace of mind and labor stability to all our Audi employees”, can be read in the letter.
Tarek Mashhour explained that the longer the strike continues, the more the company will experience economic difficulties in the next 3 years, and thus insisted on reaching a solution in the labor negotiation th at they are currently in the process of.
He mentioned that the company initially proposed a multiannual contract, which provides labor stability for collaborators and guaranteed salaries that are very competitive in the market.
However, he stated that this proposal was not accepted by the Sitaudi, as it wasn’t what the work base was seeking, so the company flexibly agreed to discuss an annual contract.
“Not having reached an agreement in the city of Puebla, we continued our talks before the labor authority in Mexico City. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to reach an agreement so far. I repeat, we have never withdrawn from the table and the talks must continue. Therefore, it is important to note that a strike is not a personal business, but differences between two organizations. The decisions made by Audi do not fall upon a single person, they are made as a corporation”, he stated in the minutes.
It is worth noting that the legal representative of Audi México, Oscar de la Vega, requested the union’s legal advisor, Arturo Blázquez, to bring a much larger increase within the negotiable parameters to the negotiation table.
“We invite you to continue with the negotiation talks and bring a new proposal other than 15.5 percent, a proposal that falls within a negotiable parameter
The company and the Sitaudi have not been able to reach a salary agreement since early December 2023; in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCT) the technicians start every year on January 1 with a new salary, but this has not been the case this year.
Union representatives request a 17 percent increase to salaries and the company started out without offering anything, it later raised its offer to 4 percent and is now considering around 6 percent. (MIG)
