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Equality

Volkswagen Workers in Mexico Reject Union-Backed 9% Wage Hike

  • VW ‘deeply disappointed’ workers opposed deal made with union
  • Mexico labor reform requires workers vote on union wage deals
Employees work on a Volkswagen Beetle at the company's factory in Puebla, Mexico.

Employees work on a Volkswagen Beetle at the company's factory in Puebla, Mexico.

Photographer: Alicia Vera/Bloomberg

Volkswagen AG workers in Mexico narrowly rejected a deal struck with their own union that would have given them a 9% wage increase and 2% boost in benefits, leading the carmaker to warn that “all sides are being hurt” by this outcome.

The workers at a plant in the central state of Puebla voted 3,450 to 3,225 against the deal reached between the carmaker and their union, the Mexican government said Thursday. Annual inflation reached 8.6% in early August, the highest in over two decades.