Mexican telecom giant Telmex offers retirement bonuses

MEXICO CITY - Telmex, the Mexican telecommunications firm, controlled by the family of Carlos Slim, presented a new offer to unionized employees that includes bonuses for retiring workers, in a bid to end a long-running row over benefits.

The offer, reviewed by Reuters, comes after weeks of negotiations between the company and union after a two-day strike in July. Telmex came up with a proposal in August, but both sides decided to continue the talks.

The proposal document didn't specify whether the August bonus would be annual or if there would be more details about the pay-out of the perks.

Telmex, a unit of Slim's America Movil, stated that new hires would get a pension on retirement worth 100% of their final net pay, determined by their job category, becoming eligible after 35 years of work and once they turn 65.

It said the sum would be made up of the pension paid out by Telmex plus worker entitlements with state social security benefits.

After 30 years, workers who retired would receive 75% of their final net pay, it said.

The union representatives from the Mexican Telephone Workers Union, known as STRM for its Spanish acronym, were to vote on the proposal later on Tuesday, the union said. If accepted, the proposal will go to all union members for a final vote.

The union, which represents 60,000 active and retired workers, began a two-day strike on July 21st, the first in four decades, after talks with Telmex broke down over issues such as salary raises, unfilled job openings, and benefits for new hires.

The strike ended the next day after the two sides agreed to continue negotiations.