One day before the notice of strike became effective, the Volkswagen de México Company and the Volkswagen Independent Union of Automotive Industry Workers (SITIAVW) reached an agreement, which has to be put to a vote by all of the workers, that considers a global increase of 10.59 percent.
Being a contractual review, in addition to the salary review, it must be submitted for approval by all of the unionized workers, as specified in the Federal Labor Law, for them to cast their secret and direct vote and it will only be until then that the review will be completed.
In this regard, Ricardo Guerrero Ayala, vice-president of Human Resources at VW de México, said that “with this agreement that benefits the more than 7,000 unionized workers at our Puebla plant, we do not only protect the purchasing power of the families and preserve employment stability, but we also reaffirm our long history of productive work with the representatives of the workers, our respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining.”
Meanwhile, the union organization headed by Hugo Tlalpan explained that “this as a historic agreement”, that consists of a 7% direct increase in salary and 3.59% in benefits, in addition to breaking the salary caps of some categories, and even reducing and standardizing promotion periods from 12 to 9 months.
It is worth noting that the original demand of the SITIAVW was for a global increase of 24%, divided in 21% to salary and the rest to benefits.
The minimum wage in 2024 increased in the order of 20%, while inflation in the month of July reached levels of 5.57% and, therefore the agreement is above the level of inflation.
In last year’s negotiation, and with the previous union leader, José Juan Hernández, a salary increase of 11% was agreed upon, comprised by a 9% direct increase and 2% in benefits, as well as the full payment of profit sharing and an increase of 0.85% in the contribution to the Savings Fund; this, however, was rejected by the workers. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a majority of workers in favor of the agreement is expected in this voting.
In February, during the review that was conducted at the Audi plant, the union organization accepted a global increase of 10.2%, after a strike movement.
In this regard, Oscar de la Vega, labor specialist at De la Vega & Martínez Rojas, said that “it is a very good agreement, maintaining the VW workers as the best paid in the country and permitting the company to continue investing in preparation against new market challenges.”
