LatinNews Daily - 18 May 2026

*Mexico’s influential teachers’ union, Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), has announced a national strike from 1 June, just 10 days ahead of the start of the Fifa World Cup, which kicks off in Mexico City (CDMX) on 11 June. In a press conference, the CNTE stated that the strike will begin with a march in the centre of CDMX. The announcement comes as the CNTE has rejected a 9% pay rise announced by the government led by President Claudia Sheinbaum. The government announced the salary hike on 15 May to mark the national Teachers’ Day.  While unions including the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE) have welcomed the increase, the CNTE rejected it as insufficient and marched in CDMX on 15 May against the government. As well as a greater salary increase, the CNTE continues to call for the full repeal of the 2007 reform to the federal public workers’ social security institute (ISSSTE), which Sheinbaum has previously said is impossible for budgetary reasons; the repeal of education reforms implemented under former presidents Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), Sheinbaum’s political mentor; and social justice and reparation of damages. Strikes staged in March over these demands ended without any agreement between the CNTE and the government, with the union first outlining plans to coordinate protests with the timing of the World Cup at the end of the March protest action.

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