Nissan Workers Dissatisfied with CATEM Union

This article by Silvia Ortiz originally appeared in the August 14, 2025 edition of El Sol de Centro.

A group of workers from Nissan Plant A1 have expressed their dissatisfaction to the Mexican Workers’ Confederation (CTM) over the unfulfilled promises made by the Autonomous Confederation of Workers and Employees of Mexico (CATEM), the union that currently represents them.

In this regard, CTM Secretary General Alfredo González González stated that the workers have his full support, and that the CTM will always strive to improve the well-being of its members with honesty and hard work.

He added that the collaborators feel cheated because what they were offered was not fulfilled, however, they are being charged 6% of their salary as union dues and in the case of the CTM the highest they are charged is 1%, in addition to the fact that the aid when a family member dies is barely ten thousand pesos even though what is collected is greater than that amount, the Christmas bonus remains the same as when they arrived and they have been bothered by the issue of their national leader, Morena Chamber of Deputies member Pedro Haces Barba, who lives in great luxuries and is not the most honest of all.

“We have listened to and received the complaints from these colleagues. We are vigilant that there will be no reprisals, as they are signing the adhesions to a new union organization and we hope that it will be respected, just as we respected the colleagues who worked for CATEM.”

He explained that the process for claiming ownership and for the CTM to obtain the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) requires having 30% of unionized workers. Once this is achieved, the authority is asked to verify the agreement and then appear before a labor judge to claim ownership of the agreement.

Alfredo González commented that he has already requested from Social Security the registration of the number of workers registered at Plant A1 and based on that, he will determine how many are needed. He estimates that by the end of the year, the requirements for filing the claim will be met.