Tulum workers protest unpaid year-end bonuses before Christmas

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Approximately 250 unionized workers from the Tulum municipal government marched through the city’s main streets today, demanding that the administration pay all year-end benefits, including the first half of the month’s salary, as they have not received corresponding payments on the eve of Christmas.

Jorge Portilla Mánica, councilor of the Labor and Social Welfare Commission, stated that with sufficient advance notice, they recommended to Mayor Diego Castañón, along with other officials, that all economic benefits for workers should be delivered within the timeframes established by law.

He commented that at the time, the City Council authorized the mayor to contract a credit line of 76 million pesos to fulfill all obligations, but practically everyone has already gone on vacation without paying the labor commitments.

The councilor maintained that according to the mayor, the municipal government’s finances are healthy, but if that were the case, they would have already settled payroll, Christmas bonuses, and savings funds for all workers, in addition to not having needed to contract any credit line to meet those economic obligations.

He noted that only unionized workers are protesting, but trusted employees, who earn the least, do not have the possibility to go out and demand payment of all the concepts owed to them, meaning they are also owed but have no possibility to protest because their jobs would be at risk.

For now, the dissatisfied workers continue without a response, as practically the entire administration has gone on vacation and only some people without rank are standing guard; even they themselves have been on vacation since the 19th of the month, but due to the lack of payment of their benefits, they took to the streets without creating blockades to demand their respective payments.

They said they should already be buying what is necessary for their Christmas dinners, but they cannot because they have not received their payments.

It should be mentioned that municipalities in the Maya region regularly have problems each year fulfilling payments of Christmas bonuses, biweekly salaries, grocery vouchers, and savings funds, forcing them to sometimes contract short-term credit lines to meet their obligations.