“We are seeing a union movement very different from what we had in the past. The party opened and everyone begins to look for her chair as they can, ”said Blanya Correal, director of the Labor Engineering Division of the firm D & M Abogados. The specialist pointed out that the new rules of Collective negotiation have led to important changes in this line of the world of work in the country.
during the webinar In the sights the collective labor contracts of the legal firm, Blanya Correal shared an analysis that reveals the growth of union activity in entities where the movement was traditionally low. “There is an interesting phenomenon, states like Baja California that traditionally were not unionized and other northern parts of the country today they begin to have an important presence of certificates of representativeness”.
For now, according to the analysis of D&M Abogados, the states with the highest number of certificates of representation – a sign of union activity – are the Mexico stateMexico City, Jalisco, Nuevo León and Querétaro.
The proof of representativeness is a requirement that unions must meet to claim ownership of a collective agreement and to be able to negotiate with the company on behalf of the union members. It is one of the new collective bargaining rules incorporated with the 2019 labor reform. To obtain it, they must have the support of at least 30% of the workers.
“The union activation It is not moving so much by sectors, but by states and regions”, explained the specialist. This scenario, she added, can be linked to how expensive it can be for unions to have management structures for collective contracts, because now it does involve generating a connection with the workers. “Invest in a geographic dispersion it is expensive and what works best is to concentrate all the resources in a single industrial park or in a single region”.
According to Enrique García Conde, partner of the legal firm, this behavior represents a challenge for companies, even though they have seen some collective bargaining agreements (CCT) because they were not legitimized, because at any moment the union movement could return to their workplaces.
“I thought that some organizations that had not legitimized would go at a slower pace, but the phenomenon is different and it is not limited only to industrial zones. Suddenly, in small places with a certain industry, leaders emerge who are documented and see how easy it is to form a union, and by complying with the requirements, the union is formed, ”he explained.
On May 1, the deadline for trade associations to register pending consultations to legitimize collective contracts expired, a mandatory procedure that consists of submitting the content of the agreement to a personal, free, direct and secret vote. The CCTs that were not registered have already been cancelled, which has opened a scenario for new actors to seek the support of the workers for a new negotiation.
Another phenomenon that has been observed after the 2019 labor reform, added Blanya Correal, is that of failed attempts to legitimize CCT. “We saw a growth in terms of the number of collective agreements that were put up for a vote by workers and that failed to have a positive result.”
In March 2023, for example, there were a little more than 200 legitimation inquiries where the members rejected their CCT. And although this may seem like a small number, explained the specialist in labor relations, it reflects the lack of roots in the union life of the workers, which has given space for the growth of independent organizations.
Better salaries, the effect of legitimation
According to the analysis of D&M Abogados, in the first quarter of the year, salary adjustments for unionized personnel they were almost three points above the inflation level, something not seen throughout 2022, a year with a strong rise in consumer prices.
From Blanya Correal’s perspective, this can be related to the intention of some companies to “try to dress up” the union to influence the legitimacy of the CCT. The second factor is the pressure of the independent unions. “Some Confederate unions took on personality as if they had been owned by an independent one.”
and although achieve salary increases higher than inflation is something positive for workers, the specialist considered that it is a phenomenon that should be considered. “The worrying element for me is how sustainable is this process? Because if the first year they ask me for a diamond ring, the second year, a diamond necklace, for the third year I no longer know what diamond thing they are going to ask me to maintain the acceptance of the workers”.
“We may think that this only happens at the neighbor’s house and that we don’t have to worry and we can continue handling the same policy of salary increasesBut really, these new standards are consolidated and generate expectations and noise among the workers. In recent weeks we have seen work centers affected, because around their industrial park the other companies move at a different pace in reviewing their collective contracts And the time ends up coming for them,” she shared.
In this sense, he considered that it is probable that as the new collective bargaining rules permeate the labor market, CCT reviews and the management of new labor conditions will be more complex for companies. “Today more than ever communication channels with the workers must be well oiled and we must anticipate the risks. This cannot be done on a hunch, we need reliable information to make strategic plans”.
