Volkswagen Puebla Workers Reject Wage Deal Amid Strike Risk

Volkswagen de México's unionized workers at the Puebla plant rejected a 10.04% wage-and-benefits package tied to the 2026 collective bargaining review, forcing renewed talks with SITIAVW ahead of a Sept. 17 strike deadline. The rejection follows an original 17% union demand, an August production-shift cut affecting up to 1,350 workers, and declining exports under US tariffs. 

Volkswagen de México workers at the Puebla plant rejected a proposed 10.04% global wage and benefits increase negotiated with the Independent Union of Volkswagen Automotive Industry Workers of Mexico (SITIAVW), sending the 2026 collective bargaining review back to the table. The result, still pending validation by labor authorities, leaves both sides negotiating against a legal strike notice set for Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. Volkswagen said it will follow the process established by Mexican labor authorities while reaffirming its commitment to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The vote outcome reflects the German automaker's own account of where it drew the line in the negotiation. Volkswagen described the rejected package, which combined direct wage and benefit adjustments, as its “maximum viable financial effort” under current operating conditions. The company added that the results remain subject to certification by the competent authority and that it will continue to observe the legal procedure set by Mexican labor regulators to preserve labor stability at the Puebla plant.

The rejected proposal followed months of contractual review talks that began well above the final offer. In May, SITIAVW opened the bargaining round by requesting a 17% overall increase, split between a 13% direct salary raise and a 4% rise in benefits, following consultations among more than 7,000 unionized workers across the plant's eight operating divisions. Under Mexico's 2019 labor reform, any agreement reached between a company and a union revision commission must be submitted to a direct vote by the full unionized workforce, a requirement that applied equally to the 2025 salary talks that ended with a 4% raise.

The rejection also landed amid broader cost pressure on Volkswagen's Mexican operations. In late August, the company eliminated one of the three production shifts dedicated to the Tiguan and Jetta models at the Puebla facility, a move that affected an estimated 786 to 1,350 workers depending on the source consulted, citing a challenging context across the global and North American automotive industry.  

That adjustment coincided with a 2.19% year-over-year drop in Mexican light-vehicle production and a 9.69% decline in exports for July, reported by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), alongside a 25% US tariff on most vehicles and auto parts that has weighed on the export-driven segment since April 2025.

Beyond the headline 10.04% figure, rank-and-file opposition centered on how the increase was structured. Local reporting on the Sept. 11 vote indicated that a large share of workers objected to a proposed 18-month interval before the next salary review, arguing it conflicts with existing contract terms, and pushed instead for a larger direct salary component rather than one-time bonuses or benefit adjustments. SITIAVW's leadership, in turn, characterized the outcome as a democratic exercise rather than a setback for the union, noting that the vote reflected the will of its rank-and-file membership.

The rejected agreement, submitted to a vote among 6,446 eligible union members, of whom 5,925 participated, extended beyond wages into a broad revision of the collective bargaining agreement's clauses. Under the proposal, the contract's validity would have run to Feb. 18, 2028, at 11 a.m. (clause 86); the Christmas bonus deduction for an unexcused absence would have dropped to 0.15 of a day rather than a full day (clause 74); and the profit-sharing guarantee payment would have shifted to the last week of May (clause 75).

The package also included eliminating group cap G in the job tabulator to fold all unionized workers into cap L, integrating provisions on ergonomic seating, known in Mexico as the Ley Silla, into the contract, and raising the employer-matched savings fund contribution by 0.80% (clause 71 bis). On compensation, the offer combined a 4.30% direct wage increase with a one-time bonus of MX$16,300 (US$959), equivalent to 4.90%, for about 6,900 technicians. Maintenance facilitators at level R were excluded from the bonus and instead offered a separate retabulation representing the remaining 0.04% of the global package.

With the agreement rejected, Volkswagen and SITIAVW must return to the negotiating table to build a new proposal, which will again require a worker vote before it can take effect. The legal strike notice filed earlier in the process remains active for Sept. 17 at 11 a.m., giving both parties a narrow window to reach terms that avoid a production stoppage at one of Mexico's largest automotive plants. The company reiterated that it will continue working with Mexican labor authorities to preserve labor peace at the facility as the review enters its next phase.

The stakes extend beyond Puebla's roughly 11,800-employee complex, Volkswagen's largest manufacturing site in Mexico and a plant whose Jetta and Tiguan output is heavily oriented toward the US market. A work stoppage would compound the pressure already facing the automaker's Mexican supply chain from the shift cut, falling exports, and US tariffs, factors that are also shaping how Volkswagen approaches a review it has described as constrained by its current financial conditions.