Dozens of nurses employed by the Baja California state government protested outside the Palacio de Gobierno in Tijuana on Wednesday, demanding months of overdue wages. The workers, who provide home healthcare to patients enrolled in state social programs, say they have gone unpaid since early 2025 and have received no clear timeline for resolution.
State Home Healthcare Workers Report Months Without Pay
The affected nurses work under Baja California’s public health system delivering in-home care to patients who cannot travel to clinics or hospitals. Their contracts fall under state-funded social programs, not the federal IMSS (Mexico’s social security health system) or ISSSTE, the public employees’ health system. That distinction matters because state-contracted health workers often lack the labor protections and automatic payroll systems that federal employees receive.
Baja California has faced recurring payroll problems with contracted healthcare staff. Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda’s administration inherited a significant state debt when she took office in 2021, and budget pressures have periodically delayed payments to non-permanent government workers. Nurses, therapists, and home-visit specialists on short-term contracts are especially vulnerable because their positions are renewed on a programmatic basis rather than through permanent civil service lines.
The protesters gathered at the state government building on Calle Segunda in Tijuana’s Zona Centro. They carried signs reading “Queremos nuestro pago” (“We want our pay”) and called on state health officials to provide a concrete payment date. Several nurses told local reporters they had gone three months or more without receiving a paycheck, forcing them to borrow money for transportation and basic expenses while continuing to see patients.
Home Healthcare Gaps Affect Patients Across Tijuana
The wage dispute has a direct impact on patient care. The nurses in question serve homebound individuals, many of them elderly or disabled, across Tijuana’s sprawling colonias. When healthcare workers cannot afford gas or bus fare to reach patients, visits get delayed or skipped. Some nurses at the protest said they had been covering travel costs out of pocket for weeks before they could no longer sustain it.
Baja California’s home healthcare programs serve thousands of residents who depend on regular nurse visits for wound care, medication management, chronic disease monitoring, and post-surgical recovery. A disruption in this workforce does not generate the same visibility as a hospital closure, but the consequences accumulate: missed insulin checks, untreated infections, and patients who end up in emergency rooms because preventive visits stopped.
The state government has not issued a formal public statement addressing the nurses’ specific complaints. A spokesperson for Baja California’s Secretaría de Salud (state health ministry) reportedly told protesters on Wednesday that the payment delays were being processed and that funds would be released, but offered no date. That vague assurance echoes responses from previous pay disputes involving contracted state health workers in 2023 and 2024.
A Pattern of Payroll Delays for Contract Workers
This protest fits a broader pattern in Baja California. In 2023, physical therapists working under a similar state program staged a comparable demonstration over unpaid wages. In 2024, community health promoters (promotoras de salud) in Mexicali reported delays of up to four months. Each time, the state eventually paid, but only after public pressure forced the issue.
The root cause is structural. Baja California funds many of its social health programs through annual budget allocations that must be approved by the state congress. When those allocations arrive late, or when federal transfers to the state are delayed, contracted workers are the first to feel the squeeze. Permanent employees with union protections continue to receive automatic payroll deposits. Contract workers wait.
Mexico’s broader health system restructuring has compounded the problem. The transition from the defunct Seguro Popular to the new IMSS-Bienestar system has shifted some federal health funding away from state-administered programs. Baja California’s home healthcare workforce sits in a gray zone: funded by the state, serving populations that the federal system has not fully absorbed.
The nurses plan to continue protesting if payments are not made within the coming week. Their next scheduled demonstration is Monday at the same location on Calle Segunda. The state Secretaría de Salud has until then to provide a payment timeline or face growing public scrutiny over its treatment of frontline health workers. This story was first reported by AFN Tijuana.