GM Mexico workers face April strike deadline in wage dispute

SINTTIA, the union representing nearly 7,000 workers at General Motors’ Silao complex in Mexico, has proposed a 10% salary increase for the 2026-2028 contract period, with a worker vote scheduled for 9 and 10 April and a strike deadline set for 15 April if no agreement is reached. The union’s General Secretary, Alejandra Morales, presented the proposal on 25 March, having entered negotiations seeking a 20% increase in wages and benefits. 

The Silao plant serves one of the most strategically significant roles within GM’s operations inside of the USMCA trade zone, producing 300,000 vehicles in 2025. Models manufactured at the plant include the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, the overwhelming majority of which are then shipped north of the border to be sold in US and Canadian markets.

The proposed 10% figure represents a significant retreat from SINTTIA’s opening position, although the union has framed it as a floor for negotiations rather than an outright concession. GM had unilaterally suspended negotiations for a week in early March after rejecting the 20% demand, a move that accelerated the formation of a 300-worker strike committee. Morales has said the union does not want to engage in strike action, but is prepared to do so.

SINTTIA’s presence at Silao is itself a product of the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, which in 2021 allowed workers to oust the traditional CTM union that had long been accused of prioritising management interests over those of the workers it represented. The independent union secured an 8.5% increase in its first contract in 2022, followed by 9.2% in 2024 and 10% in 2025, establishing a consistent pattern of real wage growth that has made Silao a reference point in the changing Mexican labour relations landscape.

Rank-and-file sentiment at the plant runs ahead of the union’s formal position. Multiple workers interviewed by local media and pro-labour publications expressed support for the full 20% and scepticism that leadership would hold the line, drawing on experience of previous rounds where, as one worker put it, “an agreement is reached by the leadership and the company in such a way that it suits both of their interests”. The 300-person strike committee is widely seen as a pressure mechanism as much as genuine strike preparation.

The timing of the negotiations adds complexity to an already strenuous process. GM’s Silao exports flow almost entirely to the US market, and the plant’s premium output—GMC models achieving their best-ever Mexican sales results as recently as December 2025—makes any production stoppage acutely costly for the automaker. 

US tariff policy has already disrupted GM’s broader Mexico strategy, and a strike at Silao would compound supply chain pressure at a moment when the company can least afford it. Elsewhere, GM has doubled down on its global production network, investing US$600m in Korean production despite unresolved trade tensions between the US Trump administration and lawmakers in Korea.