Audi workers reject 7% increase and continue strike

The independent union of Audi workers (Sitaudi) in Mexico, which began a strike on January 24, refused a 7% salary increase and announced this Saturday that the strike will continue.

The decision was made public by Sitaudi General Secretary Cesar Horta after the results of voting day were announced on Friday and clarified that 3,778 votes had been cast, of which 3,771 were valid.

83.1% voted not to end the strike

“In order not to call off the strike, they released 3 thousand 139 votesIt is 83.1%,” Horta told the media, indicating that within the strike “there is unity and this reflects class solidarity among the workers.”

The conflict, which affects the production of more than 700 cars per day, arises because the company offered a salary increase of only 6.5%which is lower than the 15.5% requested by staff, although the last offer was 7%.

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Orta assured that the company has no reason to take revenge on his organization for refusing the salary increase offer.

“It shouldn’t happen because it was a vote and if it was, we would then have to complain to the company in Mexico and Germany.

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“There should be no retaliation, I think we should be role models, role models,” Orta said.

He said workers would resist “as long as necessary, and we hope that it is not too long and that negotiations will take place soon and a new agreement will be reached so that workers can vote on it.”

“The union is open to continue negotiations”

The leader called Audi México “to invite them to come back to the negotiating table on the day, time and place they wish. The union is open to continuing negotiations; the workers did not want to go on strike.”

After a week of strikes, on February 1, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said there was “little left” to resolve the strike that broke out at the Audi plant in Puebla.

“It is being developed through legal channels and they are going to reach an agreement, there were wide, extreme disagreements, and they have already been moderated both on the part of the company and on the part of the workers, there is little left,” he told the president that day and reminded that the Ministry of Labor was acting as a mediator in conflict.

Audi’s first premium plant in America

The Audi assembly plant is located in the municipality of San José Chiapa and is considered the first premium Audi plant in the Americas.

Last Wednesday, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported that vehicle production at Mexican plants rose 9.56% year-on-year in January to 307,069 units, maintaining the upward trend in 2023.

The Inegi report notes a 74.1% year-on-year drop in production at the Audi plant. (EFE)

Source: Aristegui Noticias

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