Telmex separation sparks strike

Telmex employees affiliated to Mexico's telephony workers union (STRM) participated in a 24-hour strike on Tuesday to protest the structural separation of the telco.

The union had been planning a strike for months in opposition to telecom regulator IFT's decision to separate the fixed telecoms operator into two separate entities, which is part of the so-called asymmetric rules to reduce Telemex's dominant market position.

The STRM claims that creating a separate wholesale unit would directly affect some 35,000 workers who have signed collective agreements. According to the union, Telmex and IFT have not considered the STRM's view on the matter.

Although the workers suspended their activities for 24 hours, they made sure the company's services would go uninterrupted. Interrupting a public service, such as telephony, is a violation of the constitution, local daily Milenio quoted Fernando Negrete, president of the Mexican association for the right to information (Amedi), as saying.

However, unless the government intervenes and addresses the conflict, the union will suspend the provision of services in another protests scheduled for September 25, said STRM secretary general Francisco Hernández.

According to Telmex's parent company América Móvil, the IFT could issue a resolution on the telco's separation in the last quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2018.