Cozumel Hotel Tips Dispute Escalates to Federal Court as CTM Challenges CROC

Cozumel, Quintana Roo — A union fight over tip money and the collective bargaining contract at the Secrets Aura Cozumel hotel has moved into Mexico’s federal courts, after the CTM-affiliated union challenged a ruling that handed representation rights to its rival, the CROC.

The Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC) announced in July that it had won the collective bargaining agreement at the hotel, which is operated by Arotesa Servicios Integrales and employs roughly 230 unionized workers. But the ruling issued by the Chetumal Labor Tribunal in case file 58/2026 on August 3 did not settle the dispute.

The National Union of Workers and Employees of Caribotel’s, Hotels, Bars, Restaurants and Related Businesses of Quintana Roo, which is affiliated with the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) and registered as No. 20, filed a direct amparo — a constitutional appeal — against the decision favoring the CROC, the union led in Quintana Roo by Martín de la Cruz Gómez.

Case Headed to Collegiate Tribunal

A court agreement issued on September 17 records receipt of the appeal and confirms that the required notice was served and that the case file remains in the tribunal’s custody while the matter is forwarded to the competent federal court. One of the three Collegiate Circuit Tribunals with jurisdiction in Quintana Roo will review the arguments raised by the CTM-affiliated union.

The CROC prevailed in the July vote on the collective bargaining contract, but the final outcome now rests with the Collegiate Tribunal hearing the appeal.