Mexico president-elect hails passage of public sector pay cuts
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday hailed steps by the new Congress to cut the salaries of government officials, part of a raft of measures he promised to battle corruption and inequality. Obrador’s party (MORENA) and its allies have a majority in both houses and made passing the salary bill their first legislative priority since the new Congress began in September. Local media have reported the cuts could hit around 35,000 officials ...
Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1, won a landslide victory in July after pledging to save billions of dollars through anti-corruption and austerity measures to fund scholarships for students, pensions for the elderly and infrastructure projects in Mexico’s poor south.
Obrador vowed to cut his own salary to $5,718 per month, 40 percent of what outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto earns - a sum well below many high-paying government jobs in the current administration. He has also promised to reduce the number of his bodyguards and sell the presidential jet as well as a fleet of government aircraft.
Earlier this week, the new head of the Senate, MORENA’s Marti Batres, launched a “Tupperware Challenge” on social media, where he asked lawmakers to bring their own lunch rather than take advantage of government-funded meals at their offices.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-politics/mexico-president-elect-hails-passage-of-public-sector-pay-cuts-idUSKCN1LU2KW
