Paying Out

Slightly over half of the workers from LyFC, 22,519 to be exact, have received their buyout from the government. The issue seems destined to quietly fade away, remembered as a success for Calderón.

Unless, that is, the legal challenges go against the government. The preliminary findings have been in favor of the SME. There looms the possibility that the Supreme Court could rule the takeover unconstitutional, which would complicated matters. Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said essentially such a ruling wouldn't matter, because Calderón's decree liquidating the company isn't in play, and the Court could not obligate CFE to take on the fired workers from LyFC. Even so, a negative ruling from the Court would make the (excuse me as I dip into my bag of buzzwords) optics of the whole episode much worse for the government, and would give succor to those opposed the takeover.