Strike at Tornel Rubber Plant: 1,051 Workers Walk

ByMaría del Pilar Martínez

This article by María del Pilar Martínez originally appeared in the February 23, 2026 edition of El Economista.

At 3:00 PM on Monday, February 23, 2026, the four work centers of the Tornel Rubber Company, located in the State of Mexico and Mexico City, suspended activities after the outbreak of a formal strike led by the National Union of Workers of the Tornel Rubber Company.

The mobilization directly involves 1,051 unionized workers, who placed the red and black flags after the legal negotiation deadlines expired, said Gerardo Alberto Meneses Ávila , General Secretary of the National Union of Workers of the Tornel Rubber Company.

Sources within the union explained that the decision to halt work stems from what they describe as systematic and repeated violations of the clauses established in their collective bargaining agreement. It should be noted that this labour relationship is governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Rubber Transformation Industry, a legally binding agreement applicable throughout the country that establishes minimum working conditions, benefits, and wages for this specific sector.

According to the workers, the current conflict does not represent an isolated event, but rather the critical point in a process of deterioration in labor relations that has extended for more than a year.

According to union reports, the workers had previously explored various institutional avenues to have the company address the identified violations. Among these actions, the use of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in December 2024 stands out. Despite the intervention of these international bodies, the workers’ representatives maintain that the company failed to correct the identified issues, ultimately leading to the exercise of the right to strike.

The shutdown of tire manufacturing plants occurs in a context of review of compliance with labour standards under the USMCA framework, where the automotive industry and its direct suppliers, such as the Llanos sector, maintain constant monitoring.

So far, the authorities of the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration have kept the communication channels open, although the union leadership has stated that the lifting of the strike is conditional on the full compliance with the pending points in the list of demands.

The explosion is affecting the supply chain for manufactured rubber products in the central region of the country. The company’s representatives have not yet issued an official statement regarding the economic viability of the demands or the projected impact on its annual production.

It is expected that in the coming hours the parties will be summoned to a new conciliation hearing to avoid a prolongation of the conflict that affects the stability of the rubber industry in the region.