Flight attendants at Aeroméxico announced they would postpone for 10 days a strike they had scheduled to begin Sunday, after weekend meetings with federal labor relations officials helped to produce a better offer from the Mexican airline.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid the June walk-out, the new proposal from Aeroméxico — Mexico’s second-largest airline — prompted the flight attendants to delay the strike threat to consider the counterproposal.
The nearly 3,200 Aeroméxico employees, represented by the Mexican Aviation Flight Attendants Union (ASSA), were demanding a 4.13% wage increase, arguing that salaries for both senior and junior staff have not kept up with inflation.
On May 21, ASSA rejected a salary hike of 2.9% for senior employees and 3.25% for junior workers before meeting with the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration on May 26-27. The Center — established in October 2022 — is responsible for settling labor law disputes.
Late last week, Aeroméxico improved its offer to 3.93%, but that too was rejected.
After ASSA was granted an audience with a federal labor tribunal and held meetings with the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration on Saturday night, Aeroméxico countered with a wage packet featuring a 4.3% raise.
Once again, ASSA rejected that proposal, saying the flight attendants were prepared to walk out, but the airline came back minutes later with an offer of a 4.5% increase. The union acknowledged Aeroméxico’s good-faith bargaining and shortly after midnight announced they would postpone the strike to consider the proposal, news that the airline announced on social media.
“Grupo Aeroméxico reiterates its commitment to maintaining open and transparent dialogue to negotiate benefits for its flight attendants that allow the company to continue to be a competitive employer in the industry,” the airline said in a press release.
Negotiations were expected to continue this week and Aeroméxico said all flights would go on as scheduled.
The flight staff’s demands are an effort to recover lost purchasing power due to rising inflation from 2020 through 2024, ASSA says. The original 4.13% wage increase demand is based on annual inflation from May 2024 to 2025.
With reports from El Financiero, La Jornada and López-Dóriga.com
