MEXICO.- It is the beginning of the fourth month of Lopez Obrador’s government and a violent work environment is glimpsed. For decades, Mexico had not been so heated with labor problems. “At this moment, the country has 15 active federal strikes, which all exploded under the government of Lopez Obrador”, confirmed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare who also mentioned that more conflicts are to come such as:

• 384 “strike emplacements” (which is the union’s legal warning to the labor authority to exercise that right if their demands are not met).
• 7 non-union conflicts belonging to the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC) and the Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers (CROM), according to information released by the unit.
•  “Strike emplacements” from Walmart stores´workers
• “Strike emplacements” from Teléfonos de México (TELMEX) workers (with more than 60 thousand work centers and 150 thousand employees involved)
• Academics of Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo plan to break strike

Information compiled by correspondents of EL UNIVERSAL registers that so far in 2019 there have been 28 federal strikes and many strikes of local character in 14 states throughout the country. Amongst those, the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, with eight conflicts involving 2 thousand employees.

One of the main issues are the unions.  The Companies with more problems in places like Matamoros are those affiliated to the CTM and the mining organization of Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, these are: Metal, Scientific Advances of Mexico, Castligth, TPI, Fluxmetal, Arca-Coca-Cola and Siderúrgica del Golfo, some of which currently have employee locks and partial or total work stoppages in their facilities.

In the case of Coca-Cola, the plant is totally blocked in its access is controlled by the Union of Laborers. While the Siderúrgica del Golfo, which is closed by the Mining Union, is in the same situation.

Academics and labor lawyers have told different media outlets that workers feel they have “more confidence” with AMLO´s new government to fight for better working conditions, so they foresee more conflicts of this type, since 70% of collective union contracts are negotiated in the first months of the year.

The Yucatan Times