Mexicana reaches deal with ground workers, expects $20 million annual savings
Mexicana de Aviacion last week signed a new labor agreement with its ground workers that it said will yield $20 million in annual savings and improve customer service.
The accord, which amends rules that had been in place for 15 years, will run through 2009 and give workers inflation-indexed raises plus 1% this year and each of the next two years.
It will provide for more flexible working conditions, including shorter working days and permitting workers to perform multiple functions, something that previously was not allowed. For example, a single staff member will be able to check in passengers, sell tickets, collect excess luggage fees and perform other functions at one counter, which the airline said will cut down on passengers having to stand in line multiple times to conduct different transactions. The agreement also will let the airline staff its MRO facilities so more mechanics are on hand during peak periods.
Mexicana CEO Emilio Romano and Miguel Angel Yudico, secretary general of the National Union of Transport, Manufacturing, Aviation, Service and Similar Workers, signed the agreement Friday at the offices of the Mexican Labor Ministry following several months of negotiations.
"This agreement was achieved through dialogue and the trust shared by both parties, whose overriding objective was to find the best way of making the company viable in the long term," Romano said. Yudico added, "The union is standing by its commitment to ground workers by acknowledging that the best way to protect their collective contract is by ensuring they have the necessary flexibility and productivity to guarantee them a secure and stable source of employment in the long term."
Mexicana noted that it is currently in negotiations with its flight attendants and "is confident that an agreement will be reached soon."
¿Cual arreglo pregunto yo? ¿acaso ya hay algo arreglado? Ojo.
Atte.
Juan Manuel Saldaña Bautista
