Court in Mexico puts airline’s bid to amend labour conditions on hold

21 November 2007

A supreme court in Mexico has suspended a labour authority decision, which would have introduced a new set of working conditions for cabin crew at a large international carrier in Mexico.

The ITF-affiliated cabin crew union Asociación Sindical de Sobrecargos de Aviación (ASSA), which represents Mexicana airlines cabin crew, rejected plans by the airline to introduce new working conditions as part of a restructuring process. As a result the airline went to the Labour Conciliatory Federal Court, in an attempt to force through its proposals. Backing the company, the labour court took a decision that would have meant a pay cut of more than 50 per cent for cabin crew and the imposition of other substantial changes in their working conditions.

The ASSA rejected the labour court decision, claiming that the ruling was illegal and lodged an appeal with the supreme court calling for the labour court ruling to be overturned. The supreme court then stalled the arbitration process and put the ruling on hold.

The union is now calling for the supreme court to make a firm judgment against the arbitration process, in favour of maintaining workers’ original employment conditions, which were in place while the company was a state-controlled carrier; the airline was privatised two years ago.

Mexicana initially declared that it would not respect the supreme court’s decision, but has now announced that it will comply, pending a final judgment.

Antonio Rodriguez Fritz, ITF Americas Regional Secretary, said: “This labour court decision is not only unprecedented in Mexico, but is also a violation of the core human rights outlined in International Labour Organization Convention 98. It would seem that as the company could not force the union to accept their proposal, it is using the labour authority to impose them. Employees and their union are determined to fight back.” 

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