Third Time’s a Charm? UADY’s Strike Comes to an End

Today, Monday February 9th, on its 26th day, the strike was submitted to a vote for the third time; and the “Asociación Única de Trabajadores Administrativos y Manuales de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Autamuady)” accepted an increase of 4.2 percent in salary plus 3.4% in benefits.

Therefore, the strike comes to an end, and classes are expected to re start on Friday, February 13th.

The school board evaluated the proposal and finally moved forward to end the dispute that has left 23 thousand students without classes for almost a month.

The meeting took place this morning at Autamuady’s premises. The association emphasized that their movement strictly concerns wage requirements and does not have any political affiliations.

Until this morning, only two proposals had been officially submitted. With respect to the most recent proposal, the Principal José de Jesús Williams communicated only by mail with to Sofía Ayil Sierra, general secretary of the Autamuady, so there was no direct contact between them and hence no verbal negotiations.

Several unions, student organizations and society members supported Automuady from the beginning, knowing its only mission is to increase their workers’ quality of life. Their sponsors contributed with food and supplies to the affected families.

Last weekend a food collection took place at the Auyamuady’s headquarters in Colonia Industrial.

The school made previous counteroffers to the association; the last one included a 21% increment for transportation, direct increment for rent support (from 515 to 615 pesos), 4.2% on coupons (total of 1,783.90 pesos) and a 3.4% salary increase, already approved by the federal authorities.

Last Monday, February 2^nd, the Autamuady rejected the school offer, and as a counteroffer added a 3,000 peso monthly payment in food coupons.