Railroad workers say the president’s promise has not been fulfilled in Yucatán

March 19.- Retired, pensioned, liquidated and non-liquidated railroad workers protested in front of the offices of the Fondo Nacional de Fomento Turístico (FONATUR), to remind President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of his promise of social justice to these former railroad workers.

Manuel Orlando Yah Blanco, representative of the Unión Sindical, Pensionados y Liquidados de Ferrocarriles División Mérida, led this demonstration and recalled that there are more than 20 thousand former workers affected throughout the country, after the privatization of the railroads in Mexico during the mandate of Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.

“We are no longer looking for culprits, we are looking for a solution”, said the leader of the Union, who recalled that last February he presented, together with the groups Fraternidad de Rieleros, the Confederación de Trabajadores Ferrocarrileros de la R. M and Jubilados Ferrocarrileros de Jalapa, a list of demands and answers to several questions aimed at the social justice offered by the President.

“What we are asking or demanding from the President of the Republic is that he totally or partially retires the comrades who were liquidated or not liquidated, and who had 10 to 24 years of service”.

Presidential offer

Yah Blanco recalled that it was the President himself who made the offer of social justice. However, and despite the fact that he gave the order to the Ministry of the Interior to create a strategy for this, they have not had any kind of solution from the Presidency despite the fact that several hearings have been held with people from the Interior.

“In 2019 we proposed the issue of retirement to liquidated and non-liquidated; release of salaries to retirees and union democracy, but what is urgent for us is the issue of liquidated and non-liquidated,” said Yah Blanco.

He indicated that the movement was carried out simultaneously in several cities in Mexico, without the intention of blocking streets or affecting third parties, so as not to give the authorities reason to create charges against them or receive reprisals.

They hope that the federal government will pay attention to their demands, otherwise they are planning a demonstration in Mexico City’s main square with the presence of more than 5 thousand former railroad workers from all over the country.

TYT Newsroom