Tensions between GPs at Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the quasi-state company over alleged irregularities in their contracts escalated Monday, with practicing doctors complaining that the oil company had refused without cause to renew the contracts of more than 40 colleagues. interrupting the activities they were carrying out to protest their working conditions and wages. Since late December, practitioners have taken to the streets to protest publicly, and after a strike that lasted nearly two months, residents of Mexico City’s Centro Norte and Centro Sul hospitals met with the company and state authorities – the Secretariat of Labor and those in the interior – where they agreed to return to work without reprisals. But everything remained a dead letter.
“Following the December strike, legal action was taken by the coalition [de Médicos Residentes de Pemex], but at the judicial level we encounter many obstacles. Our labor lawsuit has been before the Collective Labor Court of Mexico City for more than 20 days without an agreement,” the president of Fundación Trabajo Digno, Abigail Quiroz, defended against this newspaper, who has been advising the coalition in recent months, which gathers about 850 people.
With no progress being made, residents asked the Supreme Court of National Justice (SCJN) — Mexico’s highest constitutional court — to move the case, believing that this type of reprisal violates human rights, specifically “freedom of association”. . . “If our country’s highest courts don’t protect the human rights we all enjoy, who will? Today they are doctors from Pemex, but tomorrow it could be any of us”, explains the chairman of the Foundation. Quiroz argues that the dismissal of residents – including some deputies – is intended to silence the coalition. At the time of writing this note, Pemex had not yet responded to the newspaper’s request.
About 100 GPs at Pemex Central Norte Hospital demonstrated on Dec. 23. Rooster Cañas Rodríguez (Cuartoscuro)
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, one of the three representatives and also one of those involved in the oil company’s decision, told this newspaper that the company sent an email last Sunday to bring them together. On Monday, they gradually received a response. “They didn’t give us the option to renew through ‘superior orders’. For us, who have to live three or four years, this is absurd. In March, we no longer have a relationship with the company, we are adrift,” he complains. The MP reiterated that the argument put forward by his superiors is that they “breached Pemex’s rules” and stressed that the decision only affected those who took an active part in the protests.
Another of the three MPs, Wendy Aparicio, also argued that those affected received the most votes. “One of the agreements we made [en las reuniones] The question was whether the contract would be honored as long as the specialization lasted,” he says. The refusal to renew the new agreement is a major complication for Aparicio. “Finding a new job as a resident is now very complex, almost impossible. Now everywhere is closed.”
Residents of oil companies began the strike in December over alleged irregularities in their contracts. The drop that broke the camel’s back came with the reduction in his premiums. The federal labor law states that employees are entitled to an annual bonus, which must be “paid before December 20 and equal to at least 15 days’ wages.” “This year it was 2,500 pesos, depending on the level of specialization. In previous years, it reached 14,000 pesos,” says Rodríguez. “We formed the coalition to try to show our discontent. The company never increased the salary, we received the same and in a cunning way. They have changed our values,” he criticizes in connection with the salary increases that the oil company defends.
During the strike, protesters claimed the oil company was trying to pressure them and “force” them to go back to work without a concrete solution. He had access to one of the emails released by the company. Under the term “signing a new scholarship contract 2022-2023”, the letter stated that scholarship holders would be “dismissed” if they did not sign, as they would not have a contract with the institution in this modality.
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Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
