The workers are among thousands of state employees laid off this year due to government down-sizing. One thousand of those fired have presented a suit for reinstatement before the labor courts, one worker representative said. According to the daily El Periodico, budget allocations for the department and unfinished works will be transferred to a new entity, yet to be established. Voluntary retirement plans have been used to trim workers from other state institutions as well. According to the Finance Ministry, some 4,500 workers have accepted the plan this year, most of them from the Ministry of Communications, Roads, and Public Works.
Workers say some retirement packages provide less than one month's salary for each year worked.
Quintana Roo Refugees Win Land Chetumal, Mexico, December 9. Refugees ended their occupation of the Guatemalan consulate here yesterday after government representatives agreed to facilitate their return to Guatemala. The refugees peacefully occupied the consulate December 6 to protest a year-long delay in purchasing land for their resettlement in Guatemala. Part of the problem, according refugee representative Hermitaneo Monzon, was that the estate the refugees selected for resettlement is larger than what the government is willing to finance. But refugee and government representatives reached an agreement this weekend to transfer 200 acres from El Carmen estate to national ownership.