Read this article in:
20 August, 2001Over 12,000 of VW's 16,000 workers at the Puebla plant have downed their tools.
MEXICO: Strike action which began on August 18 at Volkswagen's assembly plant in the central Mexican city of Puebla is continuing as management still refuses to make any reasonable offer of a wage increase to its 16,000 employees. The general secretary of the Volkswagen trade union, José Luis Rodriguez Salazar, says the union, which organises three-quarters of the workers at the plant, is demanding a pay hike of 21 per cent. The company has made no offer and government labour authorities have proposed a 5.5 per cent increase. VW workers currently earn a daily average of 272 pesos (US$29).
The chairman of the Volkswagen Group Global Works' Council, Klaus Volkert, as well as its general secretary, Hans-Jürgen Uhl, have talked to company executives at VW's head office in Wolfsburg, Germany, demanding that management at VW's Mexican subsidiary make a new offer upon which an acceptable compromise can be found. Both Volkert and Uhl say it is urgent and necessary to resolve the conflict and end the strike quickly.
It is said that VW officials in Mexico are attempting to get judicial and government labour authorities to declare the strike illegal and thus force the workers back on the job.
The Puebla plant is the worldwide center for manufacture of the new VW Beetle model and also turns out Jettas and Golf convertibles. It has a daily production of 1,500 vehicles, 2,000 engines and 1,000 axle assemblies.
The chairman of the Volkswagen Group Global Works' Council, Klaus Volkert, as well as its general secretary, Hans-Jürgen Uhl, have talked to company executives at VW's head office in Wolfsburg, Germany, demanding that management at VW's Mexican subsidiary make a new offer upon which an acceptable compromise can be found. Both Volkert and Uhl say it is urgent and necessary to resolve the conflict and end the strike quickly.
It is said that VW officials in Mexico are attempting to get judicial and government labour authorities to declare the strike illegal and thus force the workers back on the job.
The Puebla plant is the worldwide center for manufacture of the new VW Beetle model and also turns out Jettas and Golf convertibles. It has a daily production of 1,500 vehicles, 2,000 engines and 1,000 axle assemblies.