Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Mexican Walmart Workers on Strike

MEXICO: On Saturday, thousands of Mexican workers organized work stoppages at several supermarkets including those by owned by Walton family, such as Walmart, Sam’s Club etc.

Left Voice

May 29, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

Last week, groups of workers from Walmart, Suburbia, Sam´s Club, Bodega Aurrera and FEMSA organized smaller work stoppages and pickets in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Mexico City. On Saturday, they called for a national strike.
Workers are fighting against poor labor conditions, low wages and the inability to form a union and advocate for better conditions.

Perhaps the most serious case of labor abuses is at the US multinational, Wal Mart. The company generated total revenues of 433 billion pesos in it’s Mexican stores, according to a 2016 financial report submitted to the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). In Mexico there is a law that guarantees that workers receive a portion of a company’s annual profits, but Walmart workers only received from 100-500 pesos– crumbs in comparison to Walmart’s revenue.

For the first time in Walmart’s history in Mexico, on Saturday, May 27 workers called for a national strike. Although these workers do not have a union, they are organizing at local stores in order to mobilize.

paro_nacional_2.jpg

Workers demanded that the supermarkets respect the 8-hour workday, freedom to organize and join a union, decent salary increases and regularized schedules. As supermarket worker Elvira Ferreyra says, “Days off are on a rotation and they tell us which days we have off a week in advance. That makes it impossible to make plans ahead of time for anything.”

She adds that “We are the ones who open the doors to the stores in the morning, who clean the floor, who put products on the counter, who smile, who bear these conditions every day. We make the profits for the businessmen, so we aren’t satisfied with the pennies they give us.”


The riot police arrive at a Walmart in Michoacán to repress workers

At some stores, workers were unable to effectively stop Walmart from working.

The struggle in Mexico is reminiscent of the Fight for 15 in the US, where Walmart workers make only 10 dollars an hour.

In Mexico and the United States, large transnational corporations increase their profits by fostering sexual, racial and ethnic divisions so that millions of workers and their families continue to live on miserable wages. Labor strikes in Mexico and protests in the United States are expressions of discontent against the policies promoted by transnational corporations. It is convenient to Walmart that US workers see Mexican workers as their enemy, blind to the fact that on both sides of the border, the same corporations profit off of super-exploitation. That is why the working class in Mexico and the US must unite against a common enemy.

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

Labor Movement

“Our Big Push Was for Union Democracy and a Plan to Win”: An Interview with the Amazon Labour Union Democratic Reform Caucus

Two years after the historic victory at JFK8, Amazon workers voted in a referendum in their union. They want to hold new elections and revise the constitution, as part of a struggle to make ALU more democratic and militant. Left Voice spoke with two organizers to discuss the struggle in ALU.

Luigi Morris

March 20, 2024
A banner reads "Real Wages Or We Strike" at a rally for CUNY, which is experiencing cuts from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024
Florida governor Ron DeSantis stands at a podium that reds "Higher Education Reform"

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024
CUNY workers at a demonstration hold a banner that reads "STRIKE TO SAVE CUNY."

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024