Inside the labor crisis at a Matamoros maquila: What workers were told, what they’re doing, and what comes next

Employees at the Tridonex plant in Matamoros said their lives changed “from day to night” after the auto parts manufacturer sent an unexpected notice instructing them not to report to work on Monday.

According to a union delegate from Plant 53, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, the company’s human resources department and corporate offices told managers and supervisors to instruct employees not to report to work, but provided no explanation about whether the day would be paid or what the company’s actual situation was.

The note, issued Sunday, cited a forecasted drop in temperatures the following day.

“We found it very strange. Since when do they give us a day off?” he asked. “We had already worked under much worse conditions.”

Workers reported the notice to the National Independent Union of Workers in Industries and Services (SNITIS), also known as the “20/32 Movement,” led by attorney Susana Prieto Terrazas.

She also found the notice strange.  

Warning signs

Weeks earlier, the company began reducing work schedules to 75% as part of negotiations tied to what the Plant 53 delegate described as an internal crisis.

Initially, the company cut one workday per week, and then later, two days per week in a month.

“We started noticing a lack of materials — that shipments were no longer arriving and supplies were running short,” the delegate said.

The company also started moving staff to other plants. 

“They were moving workers from Plant 52 to Plant 60,” he said. 

This, combined with previous reductions in work hours, began to worry employees.

Watch shifts

After employees learned about a possible critical financial situation at the First Brands corporate group, workers organized and began maintaining watch shifts at the facilities. 

“Since Sunday, January 25, we began mobilizing to set up guards and prevent company machinery from being removed,” the delegate said. 

So far, no one from human resources or corporate management has come forward to speak with employees. 

“No one has shown up to really tell us what the situation is,” the union delegate said, adding that the company has blamed a lack of communication for fear of reprisals. 

“We are peacefully waiting for favorable answers,” the union delegate said.

Information through the union

Workers indicated that most of the information they have received has come through their union representation. 

“Attorney Susana Prieto Terrazas is the only one actively moving things forward and keeping us informed,” the delegate said. “No Tridonex Human Resources personnel have shown up.”

According to him, the union was the one who informed workers about the arrest of the company’s owners and a two-week postponement of court proceedings while First Brands seeks financing.

Municipal support

Currently, workers are keeping an eye on Tridonex’s three plants in Matamoros — Plants 52, 53, and 60.

But employees are stationed outside Plant 53 and carrying out eight-hour watch shifts.

“We are working three shifts: from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., and from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.,” the delegate explained.

Between 1,200 and 1,300 employees have been affected, he said, adding that they have received support from the municipal government. 

“Mayor Alberto Granados has provided tents, portable restrooms, food, and security so that everything remains peaceful,” he said.

A tense atmosphere

The uncertainty has taken a heavy emotional toll on workers. 

One operations employee who worked as a sorter and scanner for nine years  described the moment as one of the most difficult since joining the company.

“I’m having a nervous breakdown because we don’t know what’s going to happen — whether the company will stay or whether we’ll be left without jobs,” he said.

The operations employee, who also wished to remain unnamed, said he was worried about his family of four. 

“We have expenses,” he said.

The union delegate said he felt the same way.  

“It’s a critical situation. The fatigue, the cold, and the worry about expenses weigh heavily, because right now we’re not generating any income,” he said. 

Critical deadline approaches 

Municipal Economic Development Secretary Enrique Eduardo Salinas Garza said the labor dispute in Matamoros depends on decisions made outside the city’s purview. 

“The problem is not local — it’s corporate,” Salinas Garza said. 

Still, he said, there has been municipal communication with the company and the workers, and state authorities have recently participated in addressing the conflict.

“The law gives the company five days to officially respond with its position — whether it will be a permanent closure or a reinstatement,” he said.

Under Mexican labor law, when a company signals a potential mass layoff or shutdown, it must formally state within five days whether operations will permanently close or whether workers will be brought back. Until that happens, employees remain in legal limbo.

The company’s clock began ticking last week. 

Government officials are hoping workers will be reinstated this week. 

“Everything is up in the air,” Salinas Garza said. 

If the company doesn’t respond by the fast-approaching deadline, Mexican law allows workers to initiate legal proceedings. 

Broader impact

Matamoros’ economic development secretary warned that the situation could have broader repercussions. 

“These are companies that supply brands such as Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler,” Salinas Garza said, noting that a closure could affect the automotive supply chain between Mexico and the U.S.

He looks forward to Monday, when he expects a resolution to the labor conflict.

“I remain hopeful and in good faith that this situation will be resolved,” Salinas Garza said. 

Possible legal action

Workers are also hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.   

“We hope there will be a favorable response and that everything returns to normal,” the operations employee said.

Prieto Terrazas, the union representative for workers at affected plants in Matamoros, said employees are prepared to pursue legal action in Mexico if the company does not issue a formal response within the five-day period required by law.

“We are going to pursue an ordinary lawsuit, which moves faster than what Juan Villafuerte did with Componentes Universales and EDEMSA, where workers have gone two years without having their case resolved,” Prieto Terrazas previously told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.

The strategy includes filing a lawsuit on behalf of the workers and seeking precautionary seizures of assets left behind at the plants.

“We agreed to attempt a single action and file one major lawsuit,” she said. “We are going to place precautionary liens on what they left behind.”

Prieto Terrazas said the goal is not to push companies out of Matamoros, but to ensure workers’ rights and unpaid obligations are protected.

“I am distressed. No one wants a source of employment to disappear,” she said. “The task right now is for governments to help ensure that court resolutions move forward.”