MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Walmart de Mexico, Mexico’s biggest retailer, said on Thursday that it reached a deal with a union that had demanded pay hikes, although the group countered that talks were still underway and that a strike remained on the table.

The company said in a statement that it struck the agreement on Wednesday with the Revolutionary Confederation of Laborers and Farmworkers (CROC), offering its workers an average annual salary increase of 5.5 percent.

However, CROC spokesman Eduardo Miranda said the parties had not signed an agreement and that the union had not withdrawn its intent to strike if negotiations did not conclude by March 20.

The union previously said it was seeking a 20-percent salary hike over 2018 wage levels for the 8,000 workers it represents. Mexico raised the daily minimum wage in January by 16 percent under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to fight poverty and deep-seated inequality.

Walmart Mexico said in a call with analysts on Tuesday that the CROC union represents only 6,500 workers who had agreed to participate in a potential strike, or less than 3 percent of its unionized workforce in Mexico.

The company’s shares fell 2.25 percent on Thursday, in line with losses across Mexico’s benchmark S&P/BMV IPC stock exchange.

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