What started as a mediation session at the Secretariat of Government (Segob) unraveled as medical personnel and union members rejected a proposed 2.9 percent salary increase, prompting protests and an unfolding occupation along Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.
Breakdown of Talks at Segob and the Immediate Mobilization
The conflict escalated following a meeting at the Palacio de Cobián involving federal authorities and union representatives. According to reports, the talks concluded without agreements. Tonatiuh Ramírez, titular de la Unidad de Gobierno de la Segob, stated that during the meeting they explained the scope and content of the agreements reached in the LXV Congreso Nacional Ordinario, but “no hubo disposición de escucharnos”.
However, dissenting healthcare workers accused the leadership of the National Union of Social Security Workers (SNTSS), headed by Rafael Olivos, of breaking the pact. Representatives of the active base claimed they were left isolated when negotiations collapsed. Following the walkout, 37 worker delegates left the room.
Demands Over Salaries, Inflation, and Union Leadership
Outside the administrative offices of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), protesters made their core grievances clear: a rejection of the 2.9 percent salary raise and an insistence on increases surpassing inflation. Demonstrators blocked both directions of Paseo de la Reforma between Sevilla and Lieja, waving banners and chanting slogans demanding the removal of Rafael Olivos.
The friction centers on a planned SNTSS consultation scheduled for October 14 regarding the wage increase. Dissenting workers rejected the vote entirely. Workers demanded the immediate scheduling of an extraordinary congress.
The capital city disruptions mirrored simultaneous actions across several Mexican states. Healthcare workers in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua took to the streets, marching along major thoroughfares such as Avenida Vicente Guerrero and Avenida Adolfo López Mateos before staging vigilia protests outside local IMSS general hospitals and demanding a 10 percent wage increase instead.
Concurrently, demonstrations took place in Guanajuato, where base personnel in Celaya and León gathered along Boulevard Adolfo López Mateos to denounce severe supply shortages and demand that budget improvements directly impact gross salaries rather than Afore schemes.
In Morelos, the state’s health secretary, Mario Ocampo Ocampo, acknowledged the protests as part of a national demand and urged all parties to prioritize institutional channels and dialogue with the local SNTSS section led by Luis Francisco Magdaleno González.
Back in Mexico City, América Barragán of Jalisco’s Section 3 announced a national strike.
