Rio Blanco, Mexico.- In commemoration of the martyrs of Rio Blanco, Veracruz, workers who rioted against a yarn factory in 1907, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised that he would order two reforms: one so that wage increases do not fall below inflation and that pensions are fair.
“Here I commit that before I leave, I will send an initiative to amend Article 123 of the Constitution, to establish that salaries will never rise below inflation,” the federal president launched.
“We’re going to continue with that policy, and I’m giving you a commitment, the teachers’ union and other workers have raised it with me. We’re going to review Zedillo’s anti-labor reforms, the pensions. We’re going to make. A proposal because it is completely inhumane.” “Improper, that a worker does not even receive when he completes 30 years of work – because this amendment is the same – his salary when he was active, but half – if he is doing good work – From that salary,” he said to applause.
López Obrador, surrounded by leaders of old federalism, claimed that the population had lost purchasing power in recent years.
“It’s not going to last anymore, the oligarchy, 70 percent of the minimum wage lost purchasing power over 36 years.
“So much so that, in 1980, the minimum wage was enough to buy 50 kilos of tortillas. When we became president, the minimum wage was barely enough to buy five kilos of tortillas and, although we have raised the minimum wage, barely and now 10 kilos Minimum wage is enough to buy a tortilla.
“See how much the purchasing power of wages has deteriorated, that is why we have to continue the policy of equal pay. And here I pledge that before the end of my term I will send an initiative to amend Article 123 of the Constitution, “to establish that wages shall never rise. Never rise below, never again.”
In Rio Blanco, the president received complaints about missing people, basification of the health sector and lack of support for sugar producers.
On stage, López Obrador greeted oil union leader Ricardo Aldana and CROC’s Isaás González Cuevas, both of whom have been entrenched in their unions since the PRI’s six-year term.
