Nacional Monte de Piedad Union Rejects Government Arbitration Proposal

ByBertha Becerra

This article by Bertha Becerra originally appeared in the May 3, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

The National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad (SNTNMP) rejects the arbitration proposed by the Secretariat of Labour and Social Welfare (STPS) to resolve the strike, which has lasted seven months and shows no sign of a short-term solution, either through negotiation or the courts.

“We do not accept arbitration. We accept that the clauses of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) be respected, and tomorrow we will open all 301 branches of Nacional Monte de Piedad,” said lawyer Arturo Zayún González, general secretary of the National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad, in an interview.

“We reject arbitration. They must respect the three or four clauses of the collective bargaining agreement, which are of no value to the institution given the scale of the strike. If it were the entire collective bargaining agreement, I would agree; but the Nacional Monte de Piedad administration is failing to uphold fundamental rights, and the workers are deeply offended,” he told El Sol de México.

“I see the videos of the mobilizations of all the union sections nationwide, and they all expressed the same tone of discontent. Our union is peaceful; we don’t like marches, rallies, and that sort of thing. But this May 1st, everything was the opposite. During the parade, they even burned coffins in the Plaza de la Constitución. They are very offended, that’s the truth,” he emphasized.

Regarding the causes of the workers’ anger and frustration, he said that last year they didn’t receive a salary increase again, there was no Christmas bonus, and they weren’t paid their savings or their October salary because they were already on strike.

But the real anger, the frustration, stems from the lack of respect for the collective bargaining agreement. The administration of Nacional Monte de Piedad unilaterally published job openings, which is prohibited, and awarded them without any examination to the National Independent Union of Workers of Monte de Piedad.

“These are 300 vacancies that are assigned through exams to workers with 25 or more years of seniority, since there is the incentive of commission payments. Two Joint Commissions must participate in this allocation: the Ranking Commission and the Efficiency Commission, each of which must have three union members and three employees from the institution.”

“None of the procedures mandated by the Federal Labour Law (LFT) and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) were followed, and unilaterally, the NMP administration awarded the positions to the other union without any further consideration,” said Arturo Zayún González, General Secretary of the National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad.

During the interview, the union leader commented: “They told me they were going to defeat us through hunger!”

He recounted that “in every meeting they’ve proposed that we accept arbitration. I’ve already put it to the workers, and the answer is ‘No.’ They don’t accept it because they already know the outcome of the administration.”

When asked why they don’t want arbitration, attorney Zayún explained that “we don’t want it because it violates our collective bargaining agreement. Legally, it first has to be determined whether the strike that began in October 2025 was illegal, as a judge ruled.”

He emphasized that the review hasn’t been completed yet, and they have to wait. “Our strike is legal, but we have to wait,” he stated. “If they agree to comply with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, we will reopen Nacional Monte de Piedad tomorrow.”

“We aren’t asking for anything. They should wait until the contract review in October of this year. I can’t sign something they don’t accept; they’ve already gone seven months without pay. And it’s something the administration wants, and now the Labour Ministry. If I do, the workers will lynch me. It was the workers who verbally prohibited me from arbitration.”

Photo: Jay Watts

Workers Demand Open Dialogue

“I would like there to be an open dialogue so that the public, especially journalists, can find out who is interested in these institutions, so they can learn about the negotiations and the root of this whole problem,” he stated.

Zayún maintained that the Nacional Monte de Piedad is a very valuable institution. “The businesspeople who make up the administration are determined to turn the Monte de Piedad into a business. That’s why they want to eliminate us,” he denounced.

“They just fired 400 appraisers from the NMP, all of whom were union members. It’s not normal. The appraisers have a great reputation, and they brought in unqualified, inexperienced people who have committed fraud, but nobody says anything to them. They don’t care about the Monte de Piedad.”

He reported that the internal situation at the Board of Trustees is difficult. Two presidents have already resigned: Javier de la Calle Pardo and now Rafael Humberto del Río. In addition, two of the seven members of the administration have also resigned.

Regarding the impact, he indicated that the 1,850 workers have not received their salaries for seven months; but there are also already between four and five million NMP customers who do not pawn their belongings.

“The board members don’t care about the customers or the workers; they each receive a salary of six million pesos annually,” Arturo Zayún González, General Secretary of the National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad said.