Mexico City partner Antonio M. Prida mediates long-running dispute between workers and Mexico's national flag carrier, Mexicana de Aviación.

Mexican media has covered the successful resolution of a high profile, ongoing dispute between the Mexican unions and workers’ associations related to the national flag carrier, Mexicana de Aviación, which has been in bankruptcy since 2010.

Antonio M. Prida, founding partner of our Mexico City office, chaired the Mediation panel that resolved the dispute.

The mediation was called by the Mexican Procurator for the Defense of Labor, and the agreement was signed by the parties before him and the Minister of Labor, who acted as honorary witnesses. The agreement included the definition of the formula for the distribution of assets in trust and the determination of the trust beneficiaries.

Because of the national interest in the proceeding and the participation of numerous representatives and lawyers from the unions and associations in dispute, Mr. Prida invited two mediating colleagues, Cecilia Azar, partner of Galicia Abogados and Fernando Navarro, representative in Mexico of JAMS ADR, to co-mediate with him. After a few mediation and caucus sessions, the final agreement was formalized on July 16, ending the long-running dispute and allowing the distribution of resources among more than seven thousand beneficiaries.

Mr. Prida is Chairman of the Mediation Committee of ICC Mexico and has participated as an advisor to the General Counsel of the Ministry of Economy for the elaboration of the Mexican General Law of Alternative Means of Dispute Resolution and the new Mexican Commercial Code Title on Commercial Conciliation, which was recently approved by the Chamber of Deputies and which will be reviewed soon by the Mexican Senate.

You can read more about the mediation itself in the publication La Jornada here. You can also read a recent article published by Mr. Prida in the Mexican newspaper “El Semanario” about a new UN Convention about the execution of Mediation agreements.