1,500 workers laid off after strikes in Tamaulipas

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The National Council for the Manufacturer and Export Industry (Index) has registered 1,500 layoffs in 50 manufacturing industries in Matamoros, Tamaulipas . The layoffs were meant to “compensate for the precarious financial situation” caused by numerous strikes a few weeks ago.

This came as a result of a series of illegal strikes in the region, where workers demanded a 20% salary increase and a yearly bonus of MXN32,000 (USD$1,663) . Some companies were forced to fulfill the workers’ demands in order to resume operations, while around 15 manufacturers threatened to flee the country .

The chairwoman of Index in Matamoros, Rosalinda Torres , claimed that there would surely be more layoffs in the near future, since companies are currently unable to operate normally under the new salary conditions .

For his part, the national president of Index, Luis Aguirre Lang , commented that some of the companies that threatened to leave the country will actually relocate to other states.

Amid the tight labor situation, he said that the council expected manufacturing exports to grow by 5% to 7% in 2019 , less than the 10% growth rate that was registered at the end of 2018 , when the manufacturing sector registered USD$289 billion worth of sales .

On the other hand, Francisco Cervantes Díaz, head of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (CONCAMIN) , said that around 600 manufacturing companies in other cities and states were at risk of labor strikes since many union leaders have started to “rattle” workers in Nuevo León, Coahuila, Baja California, and Chihuahua .

“Therefore, we must safeguard labor and social peace. In the industry, all we want is freedom to do our job […] we want to have an open dialogue, not violence between workers, union leaders, and businessmen,” he said.

Meanwhile, the president of the Corporate Coordinating Council (CCE), Juan Pablo Castañón , claimed that 50,000 workers in the area are at risk of being laid off.