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Reform Agency
Monday, February 20, 2023 | 07:51
Mexico City.– The Legislative Power could resume the debate to reduce the working day since five initiatives have been presented in the Senate in this regard, said legislator Patricia Mercado.
In an interview, the senator pointed out that the issue will be addressed because in other countries, such as Colombia and Spain, reforms have already been made to reduce the hours of the working day.
“It is a very important issue, we have been working eight hours a day, six days a week for 100 years and living and working conditions are in question with the entire technological revolution,” Mercado stressed.
He explained that the proposals presented by the legislators are similar to each other, such as the initiative that Juan Zepeda presented when he was in the PRD parliamentary group.
In this initiative, it is proposed to reduce the working day from eight to six and a half hours in the daytime shift and six in the night shift, for five days of work.
On the other hand, Senator Bertha Alicia Caraveo presented an initiative to reduce the day shift from eight to seven hours and the night shift to six.
The most recent was that of Miguel Ángel Mancera, which proposes a modification of the working day for workers at the service of the State, those who are regulated by Section B of the Federal Labor Law, to stay at six hours in the daytime shift. ; five at night and five days of work for two of rest.
“We have these proposals, we have not entered it as a Commission yet. The Board of Directors of the Labor Commission, where we are the president (Napoleón) Gómez Urrutia, the secretary (Carlos) Aceves del Olmo and yours truly have not talked about launching a type of opinion on the reduction of working hours, but it is a very important issue,” he said.
He stressed that the issue is in a preliminary discussion and agreements are needed with the business sector, unions and the three levels of government.
“I see it coming and they are decisions that we are going to have to make about the new rules of paid work.
“In the short term I see the debate and dialogue with the relevant actors,” he said.
The legislator referred to the case of Spain, a country where a pilot test for the reduction of working hours is being applied, while in Colombia a transition towards a shorter working day is already being carried out.
“In general, the results are being very positive, when the pilot tests finish they continue with the reduction of working hours.
“And this evidence in a country like ours, which has based its idea of productivity on a large amount of work, changing that paradigm is not easy, it is frightening, it is not very well understood,” he commented.
