Mexico’s National Film Archives Workers Demand Dignity

ByIsrael Campos Mondragón

This article by Israel Campos Mondragón originally appeared in the February 9, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Workers at the National Film Archive issued a statement indicating their struggle for “the labor dignity that the institution has long denied us”; they also reported that 70 percent of the 340 employees work on a contract basis, without salary security, and therefore called for a work stoppage next weekend.

In the document they argue that “more than once we have approached the relevant authorities to request contracts, salary increases and staff increases that would allow us to resolve all activities at the three locations; however, we have not received a favorable response.”

Among their demands are “the same staffing levels for all three Cineteca locations in the capital, full salary payments” and they claim: “we lack job security, our future within the institution is not guaranteed and instead we are expressly asked to continue with our regular duties.”

Employees of the National Film Archive have called for a work stoppage next weekend. Photo: La Jornada

The workers’ list of demands includes six points, among which the following stand out: the allocation of contracts for periods of one to three years; notification 90 days in advance regarding the renewal or non-renewal of contracts; hiring of sufficient staff to cover the labor demand; salary increases; and the establishment of 40-hour workdays with two days of rest per week.

For its part, the National Film Archive shared a brief statement in which it reports that it “is doing what is necessary to resolve the situation, aware of what it implies for each of them, whom it has kept informed of the actions being taken,” also said that a meeting will be held today to find a solution and inform about the renewal of the contracts.

An employee of the agency—who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals—reported in an interview with La Jornada that “we work on a fee-for-service basis, we don’t have legal benefits, and the contracts are temporary. You work on activities throughout the year, but you don’t know if you’ll have work when they happen. Currently, we have temporary contracts, and most of them haven’t been renewed this year.”

“The workload increased after the creation of two more film archives, but they didn’t hire more staff to meet the needs of the new theaters; we can’t keep up,” he stated.

He added that, lacking a union, the initiative to highlight working conditions is independent and seeks to inform society about the precariousness they face: “Our struggle is legitimate; we are not asking for privileges or luxuries, only better working conditions and job security. We also seek dialogue. This situation has become unsustainable.”