People walk past Mexicana posts in Mexico City, August 2010. Marco Ugarte (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The federal government’s purchase of the defunct Mexican airline’s brand and assets is hanging in the balance. More than four months have passed since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced an agreement that appeared to be an apparent success: the executive would buy the rights to the brand and assets of this seedy airline to create its own military airline, a transaction for which he offered to pay 815 million pesos, which will be distributed to the 6,500 former employees affected by the airline’s bankruptcy more than a decade ago. The agreement seemed round, the former employees and the federal administration won. At the time, neither the chiefs of pilots and flight attendants, nor the government itself, counted on the fact that several appeals would derail this project: a group of 229 former employees of the airline opposed this transaction and filed several lawsuits appeals collectively, resources demanding the annulment of the embargo and thus prevented the use of the assets.
Faced with this legal impasse, President López Obrador this week gave the disaffected workers an ultimatum: either they give up their protections and allow the assets and brand to be sold before June 5, or they withdraw the offer. The real risk of missing the final opportunity to recoup some of their debt to Mexicana has set off alarm bells for the rest of the employees, who are looking to strike a buy-and-sell deal with the government. The union organizations of flight attendants, pilots, trust workers and Mexican retirees have called on this group of just over 200 former employees to reconsider their position and allow the federal government to buy the brand from them. However, the malcontents claim that accepting this agreement would mean a waiver of compensation, through the award more just and consistent with what they should receive after 12 years on shore.
The executive has stepped on the gas to launch the state-owned airline before the end of its mandate. Last week it was officially announced the creation of the company Aerolínea del Estado Mexicano, through which this state airline will operate and which will be part of the Ministry of Defense (Sedena). The president still wants his airline’s planes to be named “Mexicana”, and with the millions he would spend he would also acquire other assets: two flight simulators, a training center, an apartment in Balderas (Mexico City) and a building in Guadalajara (Jalisco). ).
Fausto Guerrero Díaz, President of the Association of Retirees, Workers and Ex-Workers of Mexican Aviation (Ajteam), urged the disaffected to reconsider their personal position for the greater good. “Today we have the opportunity for Mexicana to fly again, and unfortunately the lack of agreement among the workers can mean that Mexicana will no longer fly.” “This sale is a worthy exit,” he commented at a press conference this Thursday. While acknowledging that López Obrador’s offer was lower than their legal offer after years of not receiving salaries and benefits, he also warned that it was the only government to submit a proposal for the brand Brand company that goes beyond the years have lost value. According to the union leader, the Mexican stamp was worth $75 million in 2015, but today its value has dropped to about $20 million, about 400 million pesos.
He added that if they turned to more court cases or legal resources, they could lose five to 10 more years, a time when assets would deteriorate because there was no money to maintain them. “As of last January we have been advised that the money to be used to purchase these assets is from FY20-22 so we need to expedite matters because if not then these funds need to go into the return federal funds,” he decided.
Ada Salazar, Secretary General of the Aviation Flight Attendants Union Association (ASSA), stated that removing an amparo does not mean the ongoing awards go away, these remedial actions remain independent, but it is necessary to remove the amparo in order to lift the embargo and thus This will give way to government purchase. “This is not a liquidation, this is a little oxygen for all of us. The government has already started setting up another airline, they already have a company name, but if they don’t succeed (buy the Mexican brand), maybe they will give it Wellbeing Airline or some other name,” he warned.
The union representatives of flight attendants, pilots, ground workers, trustees and retirees called on their other colleagues to withdraw their protections, not only to avoid jeopardizing sales of the brand, but also because the government has pledged they will be given priority consideration to become part of the staff of the new military airline. In a last-minute maneuver to prevent the government sale from failing, unionists have called an extraordinary meeting for next Monday to try to convince the dissident group one last time.
However, the group of these 200 dissident former employees has no intention of changing their position, even if that deadline is still ahead of them. Iván Enríquez, one of the workers included in this protection, explained that they do not support the government’s purchase proposal because it envisages a distribution of resources by position and seniority, which puts a pilot at a disadvantage compared to an overload. “We agree to the sale, what we disagree on is the distribution they are planning. A former manager could make hundreds of thousands of pesos, while a retiree would make around 40,000 pesos, under this arrangement, the most favored are. “The privileged and vulnerable are despised,” he commented.
Enríquez assured that this dissident group was left out at the beginning of the negotiations and did not have the same information as their other colleagues. “We will not give up, we have an Amparo and we request that the case be taken to the Supreme Court to resolve this matter in depth.” no longer paid,” he contented himself. The Mexicana retired flight attendant said that although she is fighting for the bounty, the 815 million pesos would mean more than 2 million pesos per former employee if received.
The former employees of Mexicana, who lost their jobs overnight due to the company’s bankruptcy and fought for years in court to have their awards recognized, now face a crucial decision: they must accept at least 815 million pesos under more than 6,000 comrades, or they drop the government’s proposal to continue the fight in court, which promises a greater reward even if it may take years to arrive.
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