Mexico’s Cineteca Nacional Workers Hired Through Outsourcing Demand Dignified Treatment

ByAlma Rosa Camacho

This article by Alma Rosa Camacho originally appeared in the February 16, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

Representatives of the 240 employees from the Programming, Film Preservation, Box Office, Theaters, Restaurant, and Soda Fountain departments, all hired through outsourcing, demonstrated this Saturday at the National Film Archive’s headquarters in Xoco. Gathered in the group Colectiva Cineteca, they demanded better working conditions.

They denounced workplace harassment by Vicente Fernando Cázares Avilés, Director of Administration and Finance at the National Film Archive, and demanded his resignation during a peaceful march in which they also spoke about exploitation, as the same employees travel from Xoco to the Film Archive of the Arts and the Chapultepec Film Archive.

More than 60 protesters in front of the Xoco ticket booths expressed their demands, without preventing the sale of tickets.

Most workers stated that they work more than eight hours a day and have virtually no breaks / Photo: Ivonne Rodríguez / El Sol de México

Asael, a young worker, told El Sol de México about his situation at his workplace: “I work in movie theaters and the concession stand. Besides the low wages, the exploitation of working extra hours every day without breaks, and not having universal health coverage through the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute), we experience workplace harassment, mental abuse, and mockery from our immediate supervisors, who remind us how little we earn with sneers and threats.”

In one of the large planters at the Cineteca, they placed banners with messages such as “Cinematic memory does not preserve itself”, “Decent wages, permanent positions, job security”, “We demand solutions: Cineteca Collective. Labor dignity”.

Colectiva Cineteca brings together employees between 30 and 40 years of age, some of whom have worked there for more than 18 years, and they assured that they will continue to demonstrate until they achieve solutions to their demands.

In a brief statement issued minutes before 4:00 p.m. this Saturday, the National Film Archive reported that “all the theaters in its three venues are in operation” and that the debts to the staff were settled last Friday, also noting that meetings took place throughout the week between the workers and management.