Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday that she will send a constitutional reform to Congress to eliminate what her government calls an entrenched system of excessive retirement payouts for former high-ranking officials at state-owned enterprises — some of whom collect more each month than the president herself earns.
The announcement came during Sheinbaum’s morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, where Raquel Buenrostro, head of the Secretariat for Anti-Corruption and Good Governance (Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno), laid out a detailed breakdown of the figures. What she presented was striking.
At the now-defunct power utility Luz y Fuerza del Centro (Light and Power of the Center), more than 14,000 former employees collectively receive 28 billion pesos — about $1.6 billion — per year in pension payments. Nearly 9,500 of them, roughly 67%, take home between 100,000 and one million pesos a month. One individual receives just over one million pesos monthly — about $58,000. The federal government also subsidizes part of their income taxes, adding another 2.4 billion pesos to the annual bill. Buenrostro noted that Luz y Fuerza pensioners receive on average 140 times the national average pension.
At Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company, the picture is similar. Some 22,000 former employees in the management tier (régimen de confianza) receive a combined 24.8 billion pesos a year. Of those, 544 collect more than the president — adding up to 1.8 billion pesos annually above her salary. Pemex pensioners average 39 times the national pension. At the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), more than 2,100 retirees also out-earn Sheinbaum, costing an extra 4.5 billion pesos per year. Buenrostro flagged additional cases at development banks Nafin, Banobras, and Bancomext.
For context, the national average monthly pension in Mexico is around 7,000 pesos — roughly $400.
The reform, which Sheinbaum said she plans to submit to Congress on Feb. 23, would amend Article 127 of the constitution to cap future pensions at half the president’s salary — about 70,000 pesos per month. Payments already being received would not be touched retroactively, but any new or adjusted payouts would fall under the cap going forward. Sheinbaum made clear the measure targets only senior management-level former employees, not unionized workers or those with collective bargaining agreements.
The government expects the reform to free up about 5 billion pesos annually, money Sheinbaum said will be redirected to the Programas del Bienestar (Welfare Programs), the administration’s social safety net. She said details on specific programs that will benefit will be announced on Feb. 23 alongside the legislation.
This isn’t the first time the issue has surfaced. Buenrostro raised similar concerns publicly in August 2025, when the government first revealed the scope of the pension figures and said it was exploring constitutional changes. Critics of the Slim proposal and other pension reform debates have noted that Mexico’s pension policy for rank-and-file workers moves in one direction while executive-tier payouts remain in another category altogether.
The reform effort fits into a broader anti-corruption push by the Sheinbaum administration. The Secretariat for Anti-Corruption and Good Governance has been active in reviewing legacy arrangements from prior administrations, which Sheinbaum’s government frequently refers to as products of the “neoliberal era.” Luz y Fuerza del Centro was shut down by then-President Felipe Calderón in 2009, a move that left many workers without jobs while a subset of high-ranking employees secured lucrative long-term pension arrangements in the liquidation process.
Some pensioners have already organized in anticipation of reform, with groups at Pemex, CFE, and Luz y Fuerza consulting legal teams about possible injunctions. Constitutional amendments in Mexico require a two-thirds majority in Congress, which Sheinbaum’s Morena party and its allies currently hold, making passage likely.
Factbox: Key Numbers in Mexico’s Pension Reform Proposal
- The constitutional reform targets former senior-level (régimen de confianza) employees, not rank-and-file or unionized workers
- Proposed pension cap: 50% of the president’s salary, or about 70,000 pesos per month
- President Sheinbaum’s monthly salary: approximately 133,000 pesos net
- Luz y Fuerza del Centro: over 14,000 pensioners, costing 28 billion pesos per year; top pension exceeds 1 million pesos per month
- Pemex: 22,000-plus management-tier retirees; 544 out-earn the president; annual cost roughly 24.8 billion pesos
- CFE: more than 2,100 retirees earn more than the president; extra cost about 4.5 billion pesos per year
- National average monthly pension in Mexico: roughly 7,000 pesos
- Projected annual savings from the reform: approximately 5 billion pesos
- Savings earmarked for: Programas del Bienestar social welfare programs
- Reform submission to Congress: expected Feb. 23, 2026