Andres Peñalosa: Under the PRI government, no nation in Latin America had a lower minimum wage than México. The wage gap between top and bottom earners grew during the neoliberal period, with the business class favored and benefits to the poor cut. Buying power for average Mexicans dropped by 80 percent.

To make matters worse, the Mexican economy became subordinated to the US and Canada. In 1991, wages in México ran nine times lower than wages in the US, and today, after almost 30 years under NAFTA, that ratio has grown even greater. During all this time, workers here in México had no defense. The charro unions agreed to low wages. They sold out workers to the PRI and corporate executives.

You served as the commissioner on minimum salaries under AMLO from 2018 to 2020. Have wages gone up since AMLO’s election?

The minimum wage rose twice during my tenure, and the minimum just rose again. Minimum wage workers labor mostly in the service sector, in workplaces like supermarkets. Some 14 million have had their incomes increased to $8.27 a day in US dollars, a 22 percent overall increase.

For the Northern states, the Mexican government felt that wages should be even higher for maquila workers, given the favorable tax breaks companies in that region were getting. The resulting negotiations between the government and the companies — affecting three million workers — didn’t go easily. The corporations stubbornly resisted any higher wages, as did the CTM unions.

But the wage hike was won, not just due to the stance of the Morena negotiators, but the persistent struggle of women workers. Their huge spontaneous strikes pressured the companies. Wages doubled for maquila workers, who now make $12.22 per day USD.

But so much more remains to be done. About 50 percent of workers work on their own in the informal economic sector. The salary reforms aren’t helping them. Mexican wages overall are running lower than China’s. I would sum up the situation by saying that the national government has led a modest recovery in workers’ wages.

The wealth of the 4 richest Mexicans as a percent of GDP

LSE Blog/London School of Economics

Wealth makes for an even more important measure of economic inequality than wages. How much outrage erupted at the 2021 Pandora Papers revelations that named the wealthy Mexican politicians and businessmen who’ve hidden money to avoid taxes?

The revelations didn’t cause much of a sensation in México. They just confirmed what people suspected all along. AMLO has not yet tried to lower income or wealth at the top. He has accepted investments from the rich. For example, Carlos Slim — net worth, $79.3 billion USD! — is helping to finance the Tren Maya project.

We also have an ideological problem. Many people have learned that “to be rich is good.” They believe in the myth that they, as individuals, can become part of the wealthy class and, as a result, don’t think in terms of the whole working class. But this myth is disintegrating, and the idea that everyone should pay their fair share is gaining traction.

Does the Mexican tax structure favor the rich?

Yes. For individuals, the top rate stands at just 35 percent. It should be double that! We have a sales tax on basic necessities like clothes and food. This burden falls heavily on the poor. Corporations, meanwhile, routinely skirt the tax on imports. For example, 50 to 80 percent of car components — like the brake parts essential to the finished product — come from outside of México. These small parts can easily get past customs. The smugglers are not just running drugs and guns! So corruption also remains a major factor.

Speaking of corruption, AMLO’s main strategy to address inequality has been to recoup money from corrupt politicians to pay for his new social programs. Is the take from that going to be enough?

The fight against corruption has had some good results. But these good results will not be sufficient. Right now, the government cannot afford to raise the wages of its own public sector workers any higher.

What other reforms does México need?

This government has taken the beginning steps, but we need a long-range integrated plan to make society more equal. And government is only one player — and not the most important. We need independent unions, like the rank-and-file union voted in earlier this month at the General Motors plant in Silao. By throwing out the old charro union, workers opened up groundbreaking possibilities for real change. Worker power will be the foundation for the well-being of the people of México.