Mexico Economy: Coca-Cola workers on strike in Matamoros

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02:55

Let's focus on the combative labor movements in Mexico. Tens of thousands of workers in Matamoros have walked off the job to demand a better pay and conditions. Our correspondent Alasdair Baverstock has the story.

Coca-Cola workers are on strike in Mexico, at the country's border with the U.S. state of Texas. They're demanding an annual bonus increase and 20% pay rise, citing exploitative working hours and an unfair share of their distribution company's massive expansion over recent years. The workers are employed at Arca Continental, a Coca-Cola distributor in northern Mexico.

JUAN GAITAN, LEADER WORKERS UNION "You'd look at us and think it's only Coca-Cola that is fighting for better conditions, but everyone is fighting here, all the factories, because we know our rights and we have to be given what we deserve."

Juan isn't alone. Workers from thirty other local companies, from Coca-Cola to assembly plants, have been on strike for the past three weeks.

ALASDAIR BAVERSTOCK MATAMOROS, MEXICO "What's emboldened these strikers is the Mexican president′s border stimulus plan, aimed at boosting local economies throughout the U.S. border region. It doubled the minimum wage. These workers already make more than that, but argue their salaries should also get a big boost."

The border stimulus plan also includes cutting the valued added tax rate by half, nothing new at the border, but taking effect alongside reducing income tax by a third and matching fuel prices at the pump on the other side of the border.

The plan is aimed at stimulating economies across the region, which has been plagued by cartel violence.

ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR MEXICAN PRESIDENT "Over the past 30 years, the economic growth has been in some central Mexican cities, on the Caribbean, and in some border cities. These are like small islands in a sea of poverty and abandonment, as we want to see growth across the board."

Yet, the region's Northeast Business Union, a group of top businessmen from Matamoros are concerned with the president's policy.

ALBERTO CASANOVA, PRESIDENT NORTH EAST BUSINESS UNION "There is a lot of uncertainty here now for factory businesses who might invest in the region. We were expecting economic growth this year, given that we had managed to bring a halt to the local economic slow-down. But now, with all of the situation of the strikes, it's no longer seen as possible."

As President AMLO's campaign promises come into effect, the border region is feeling the effects of the change. But with the president showing no signs of relenting, it's now up to local business executives and their workforce to adapt to the new status quo.

Alasdair Baverstock, CGTN, Matamoros.