App Worker Union Warns of Mass Exclusion in Social Security Program

This article by Jared Laureles and Jessica Xantomila originally appeared in the August 7, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. The National Union of App-Based Workers (UNTA) acknowledged the progress of the pilot program to guarantee social security for delivery workers and drivers; however, it warned of the risk of “massive exclusion” of people employed through platforms.

He noted that while more than one million workers have been registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) through digital applications, starting with the second month of implementation of the plan, which went into effect on July 1, only those who exceed the monthly net income (NMI) threshold established by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) will remain registered.

The INM is calculated based on the worker’s total income, less the exclusion percentage, the latter representing the cost of work tools.

Those who work by car must earn 20,910 pesos per month ($1,110USD); those who work by motorcycle must earn 16,728 pesos ($895USD); and those who work on foot or by bicycle must earn at least 9,840 pesos per month ($526) to access social security, according to the STPS exclusion percentages.

Sergio Guerrero, a leader of UNTA, pointed out that while the agreement published in the Official Gazette of the Federation establishes that to be considered a platform worker, they must generate net monthly income equivalent to at least one monthly minimum wage in Mexico City, equivalent to 8,364 pesos ($447USD), with the exclusion percentages, they must accumulate “almost triple that amount.”

He insisted that these pilot program criteria “are unfair, high, and contrary to the spirit of the labor reform.”

He also called on the STPS to review and eliminate “these exclusion mechanisms” so that those who work through a digital platform have “effective access” to the IMSS, “without conditioning this right to the income received.”

According to the general provisions published last June, three categories of workers and exclusion percentages were defined. These will be deducted from their gross monthly income to determine their INM, and these will vary in two phases.

During the first three months after the pilot plan comes into effect (July to September), increased exclusion percentages will be applied as part of a gradual phase-in: car drivers, 60 percent; motorcycles, 50 percent; and non-motorized drivers, 15 percent.

In the second phase, from October to December, the exclusion rate will be 36 percent, 30 percent, and 12 percent, respectively.