Mexican border plants losing $50 million a day amid strikes: industry group

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Labor strikes at several dozen manufacturers in the Mexican city of Matamoros on the United States border are costing the sector about $50 million a day in unfulfilled international contracts, an industry representative said on Tuesday.

The strikes have affected 45 plants since they began on Friday, Luis Aguirre, president of a national board representing exporting manufacturers (INDEX), said in a statement.

Matamoros, a city in the northern state of Tamaulipas, is one of Mexico’s top producers of auto parts and electronics.

Several Mexican business lobbies, including the Auto Industry Association and INDEX, said some manufacturers had accepted the workers’ demands so they could resume production.

Failing to meet their contractual obligations would trigger “disastrous consequences for the continuity of a source of employment,” the lobby groups said in a joint statement.

Factory workers in Matamoros demanded higher pay after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador nearly doubled the minimum wage in northern border states.

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