Overview
- SINACTA filed an emplazamiento a huelga at the Tribunal Federal de Conciliación y Arbitraje on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, naming the Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes and the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público as respondents and starting a formal labor timetable.
- The union says it seeks solutions for deep workplace problems, citing a roughly 30 percent loss of purchasing power, more than 19 controllers working without official appointments, long and exhausting shifts, and failures in navigation equipment and training.
- SINACTA says the current conditions are 'unsustainable' and has operated 'under protest' for over a year, with leaders warning that controller fatigue and staffing gaps could compromise safe monitoring of takeoffs, landings and en-route separation.
- The pilots’ union ASPA publicly backed the controllers’ action, saying towers and centers of control are essential to flight safety, and several outlets warn a strike could disrupt operations at major hubs such as Mexico City, Cancún, Guadalajara and Monterrey during a peak tourist period.
- Federal authorities had not issued a detailed public response as of the filing and the process may lead to negotiated commitments or, if talks fail, to a strike that would affect thousands of passengers and the work lives of exhausted controllers.