Dissidents accuse Hernández Juárez of allowing the mutilation of Telmex’s CCT

Jared Laureles

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 4, 2024, p. 7

In 48 years at the head of the telephone workers’ union, Francisco Hernández Juárez has allowed the mutilation of their collective bargaining agreement (CCT), but after the privatization of Teléfonos de México (Telmex), more than three decades ago, this situation worsened causing severe effects in key clauses, representatives of dissident groups said.

The most recent case occurred in January 2023, when a consultation approved the agreement between the Union of Telephone Workers of the Mexican Republic (STRM) and the company to modify clause 149, in order to reduce by 20 percent the retirement pension for years of service worked for those who join Telmex from that year onwards, said José Refugio Cano, member of the Union of Telephone Workers in Struggle and Resistance.

Other regression It took place in 1989, in the context of the privatization of Telmex, with the consent of Hernández Juárez, who a few days ago was re-elected for the thirteenth time until 2028, thus adding 52 years at the head of the STRM.

Pablo Lugo Colín, a member of the Telefonistas Construyendo Democracia movement, explained that that year a conciliation agreement was reached that modified clause 27, section g, and there bilaterality was lostso the company is the one that decides whether or not to grant vacancies according to service needs.

He estimated that around 22,000 positions, corresponding to personnel who retired or died, have not been filled since 1990, when Telmex was privatized. He added that before that year the active personnel amounted to 42,264 workers and currently there are 20,318, who They no longer receive profit sharingsince the company has reported liabilities.

Cano complained that after the privatization of Telmex not only technological changes were incorporated, but also important modifications in labor matters, with the loss of labor material that was channeled to new companies and subsidiaries and the disappearance of labor rights.