Nearly 2,000 axed at Pemex under AMLO austerity plan

Photo: Pemex

For Pemex, Mexico’s oil company, the year began with layoffs. Of the 1,952 workers given a pink slip, most were “workers of confidence.”

That leaves the Pemex workforce 125,989 as of March 31.

A “worker of confidence” denotes a mid-to-high level on the chain of command. They would supervise plant workers, in some cases. They are not unionized. They were also not implicated in any scandal or wrong-doing.

The first-quarter decrease in the Pemex workforce was, according to financial statements presented to the Mexican Stock Exchange, reduced payroll by 475 million pesos.

The director of Pemex, Octavio Romero Oropeza, had indicated at the beginning of April that an austerity program was under way.

The Lopez Obrador administration has made it clear that “the elimination of the excessive, superfluous and unproductive expenses is necessary to free resources that are needed for the sustainable activities of Pemex.”

However, past administrations avoided massive dismissals by edging more senior-level workers to early retirement, making them eligible for a pension.

Source: El Univeral

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