Mexican workers at Carlos Slim’s Telmex go on first strike in decades

The trade union of Telmex, the Mexican telecommunications firm controlled by the family of tycoon Carlos Slim, recently went on strike for the first time in nearly four decades after failing to reach a deal with the company, the union said.
Dozens of Telmex’s 60,000 union workers gathered outside the company’s main office in Mexico City after leaving their posts for the strike, the first since 1985.
Many chanted, “Carlos Slim, get this, the contract is not for sale,” as passing cars honked in support.
Workers said that negotiations broke down over a series of issues they said violated a collective bargaining agreement, including outsourcing work, the exclusion of union members from new Telmex projects, and a lack of investment to cover operational and administrative needs.
The union, known as STRM for the Spanish acronym of its name, the Mexican Telephone Workers Union, also said the company has yet to fill nearly 2,000 vacancies that were previously negotiated and wants to change contractual benefits for new hires.