As of the last minute of this Monday, May 1, around 119,000 collective labor contracts in Mexico were left without effect, since they were not put to consultation as requested by the legislature to transition to the new labor model.
According to the country’s own labor authorities, the vast majority of these legal instruments were considered “protection contracts”, which is the term coined to refer to collective contracts negotiated by related union organizations behind the backs of the workers.
The statistics of the 119,000 disappearing contracts were reported by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, after noting that the purification of collective contracts is a process that took four years “and that today the X-ray of the world of work reveals what is around 6,000 unions, federal and local, with effective representation, for 4 million workers in the country with 20,000 current contracts”.
The contracts that will remain in force are only those that were legitimized, that is, that were voted for by the workers in accordance with the new rules of union democracy in force as of the 2019 labor reform, such as the one that establishes the requirement of free and secret vote or maximum publicity of collective agreements.
As of May 2, the following will happen to the Collective Labor Contracts (CCT) not legitimized or that were rejected by personal, free, direct and secret vote by the workers:
1) They will be terminated; 2) The union loses the administration of the CCT and all the rights associated with it (union dues and licenses, in addition to the management of benefits assigned by the employer to the union; 3) The company must respect all the rights and benefits established in the CCT in favor of the workers; 4) Unions interested in signing a new CCT must prove to the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration (CFCRL) the support of at least 30% of the workers to obtain the Certificate of Representation; 5) While there is no CCT, the company must adopt a policy of neutrality; that is, to give equal treatment to all unions that have members in the company, without retaliating or discriminating against any worker.
While the next administrative actions will be: the publication of the agreement to conclude the Legitimation process of Collective Labor Agreements in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The publication of the list of legitimized CCTs and in the process of legitimation until July 31, 2023.
The authority will also publish a database to consult the CCT deposited with the CFCRL (legitimized and not legitimized). A mailbox for attention, guidance and complaints will also be made available to the public.
