Overview
- Operations remain shut nationwide, with 301 branches closed and roughly 2,750 employees sidelined as an institution that handles about 600,000 pawns and renewals a month sits idle.
- The administration asked the Labor Ministry and the federal conciliation center to impose binding arbitration, but the union led by Arturo Zayún rejected that route and demanded a public bargaining table with the Patronato.
- Management outlined a package that includes a back-pay bonus worth 52% of wages for the strike months, a 5.3% raise, no layoffs and new posts, offers the union has not accepted.
- A February ruling that declared the strike nonexistent moved the fight into the courts, and an appeal keeps picket lines in place until labor judges either uphold the decision or let the walkout stand.
- Executives frame the dispute as modernizing how vacancies are assigned through a merit-based system, while the union cites contract breaches such as blocked promotions and withheld pay that it says must be fixed before talks move to other clauses.