LatinNews Daily - 16 June 2022

* Mexico’s mining, metal, and steel workers’ union (SNTMMSSRM) has launched a strike at a plant run by key local steel producer ArcelorMittal México in Michoacán state, after failing to reach an agreement with the company, which is part of the Luxembourg-headquartered multinational ArcelorMittal. The company, which produces steel rods used in construction, has been in negotiation with the workers’ union over a 10% profit-share that the workers claim the company is refusing to give them. ArcelorMittal insists that payments were carried out on time and in full, and states that despite having been offered a bonus equivalent to six months of salary during negotiations, “the workers have continued to demand higher amounts than the legal maximum”. Countering these claims, the secretary-general of the mining union, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, shared a union statement which said that ArcelorMittal had “directly violated the rights of more than 3,500 workers embodied in the collective agreement” and failed to pay them the 10% profit share. Gómez Urrutia, who is also a federal senator for the ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party and a close ally of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, added that the workers were fighting for “dignified and fair treatment” and had the union’s full backing. In a press release, ArcelorMittal said it regretted the workers’ decision to strike and warned that it would have “serious consequences… on the national production chain and the country’s economy given the importance of steel for countless industries”.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 244 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial