Workers at Mexico’s Monte de Piedad pawn institution will receive 100% of the wages accrued during a 364-day strike, according to Mexican reports. The union and management signed an agreement at the federal Labour Ministry on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The institution said its branches would reopen Wednesday, October 7.
The agreement ends a walkout that began on October 1, 2025, and affected 302 branches.
How the Deal Came Together
The Labour Ministry, known as the STPS, said the parties held more than 70 negotiating meetings after the strike began. Progress came, but differences remained. In the end, the union and the institution agreed to comply with a comprehensive ruling drafted by the ministry, then signed it at the ministry’s headquarters.
The process wasn’t quick. Five months before the signing, on May 2, the ministry called the parties back to negotiations after earlier talks stalled. El CEO reported that more than 30 trilateral meetings had produced no agreement by May.
Director José Antonio Murillo Garza and union leader Arturo Zayún González announced the strike’s end jointly in a video for staff. “We reopen the doors of the branches with our clients’ pledged items intact,” Murillo said. Zayún called rebuilding the institution with fresh ideas a “great task.”
The Dispute Behind the Walkout
The union said management had breached the collective labour contract. La Jornada reported eight alleged violations, including sidelining the joint committees responsible for promotions. El Financiero reported that breaches of an earlier agreement, which ended a previous strike in March 2024, helped fuel the new dispute.
The institution pursued a different legal route. In February 2026, about eight months before the settlement, a judge granted the institution an injunction and declared the strike non-existent, El CEO reported, citing the institution. The strike continued anyway. Only the ministry-drafted ruling and the reported wage payments resolved the dispute.
What Clients Should Expect
Customers who pledged items before the closure also felt the strike’s effects. Starting October 7, clients will receive 45 days without interest charges. The institution will discount interest that accumulated during the closure case by case, based on each client’s history.
Clients must book an appointment online and bring an official voter ID card and their ticket number. The branches are scheduled to open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Reports said workers would return to their posts as the branches reopen.
How quickly the 302 branches can clear a year of backlogged pledges isn’t clear. The ministry said it hoped for “lasting” cooperation.
Why This Matters: A strike lasting 364 days across 302 branches shows how long a dispute over a collective labour contract can drag on when promised procedures stop working. The union’s complaints, including sidelined joint promotion committees, concerned how the contract worked in practice. The previous strike ended with an agreement in March 2024, and reported breaches of that agreement fed the new conflict. Full retroactive wages matter for workers who went a year without a paycheck. After more than 70 meetings, the ministry drafted a ruling both sides accepted, showing what public mediation can do. Still, clients with pledged items face an uncertain backlog and case-by-case interest relief. Whether the ministry’s hoped-for “lasting” cooperation holds remains an open question.