Volkswagen strike in Mexico

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LISA NAPOLI: Car manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of all production in Mexico. This week, 9,700 workers at a Volkswagen plant went on strike — again. Dan Grech reports.

DAN GRECH: This is the third time in five years that workers at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico, have gone on strike.

They’re asking for an 8.5 percent raise.

The plant produces about 1,500 cars a day, including the New Beetle. Most of those cars are then sold in the US.

Eric Farnsworth is with the Council of the Americas, a business association that includes Volkswagen. He says Mexico’s manufacturing sector has come to rely on car-making.

ERIC FARNSWORTH: Autos have been a bright spot. The proximity of Mexico to the largest economy in the world is certainly something Mexico’s appropriately taken advantage of.

The Volkswagen workers have organized successful strikes before. Two years ago they staged a four-day stoppage that ended with a 4.5 percent wage increase.

I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.