Walmart Mexico workers will strike in March without better pay and conditions for thousands of employees, union officials said.
The National Association of Trade and Home Offices demanded a 20 percent salary hike over 2018 wage levels for the 8,000 workers it represents. They also want a new perk: 4 percent commissions for sales clerks.
The daily minimum wage went up 16 percent in January under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The union alleged that employees are not properly compensated for working overtime and that some staff suffer abuses, including sexual harassment, from their supervisors.
Walmex, Mexico’s biggest retailer, said it saw the dialogue as positive but did not immediately respond to the abuse allegations.
Mexico’s conciliation and arbitration board is overseeing the talks, which have a March 5 deadline. After three meetings, Walmex has yet to counter with an offer.
The retailer has some 237,055 employees in Mexico and Central America, about 200,000 of whom are in Mexico.
The union workers, who include janitors, cashiers, pharmacy clerks and warehouse workers, earn between 92 pesos and 169 pesos a day, said a union official.
Source: Reuters
