MEXICAN GOVERNMENT PREPARES TO TAKE ON LABOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 000354 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX AND USDOL FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM PINR MX SUBJECT: MEXICAN GOVERNMENT PREPARES TO TAKE ON LABOR REFORM REF: (A) 07 MEXICO 6285 (B) 07 MEXICO 5963 ¶1. SUMMARY: Since taking office in December 2006, the government of Mexican President Felipe Calderon has launched a number of reform initiatives aimed at making long range national improvements. To date his administration has worked with the Congress to move forward in areas like fiscal, electoral and pension reform and it was widely expected that it would next take on the complex issue of energy reform. Energy reform however, is an extremely controversial topic in Mexico; one sure to generate considerable opposition from across the POLITICAL spectrum. Perhaps because of this the GOM recently decided to hold off on energy reform during the current legislative session and on February 1, it announced that labor reform would now be given a higher priority. Any real reform of Mexico,s labor law would require a change in the country,s constitution. Constitutional change in Mexico is much less complicated process than a similar legal modification would be in the US. That said, most of Mexico,s organized labor unions and the POLITICAL parties that support them are vehemently opposed to constitutional change in this area. At present there is no publicly available information on the specific reforms the GOM intends to propose. Speculation on possible proposals includes items like changing from a daily to an hourly minimum wage, legal changes to facilitate outsourcing, restrictions on collective bargaining contracts and the right to strike, and increased legal status for individual employment contracts. The GOM is expected to present its reform proposals to Congress at the end of February. END SUMMARY. LABOR REFORM GETS HIGER PRIORITY -------------- ¶2. From the very beginning of his administration in December 2006 Mexican President Felipe Calderon has devoted considerable time and effort to carrying out much needed economic and POLITICAL reforms. Thus far the GOM under Calderon has worked with Mexico,s national legislature to promote change in areas like fiscal, civil service pension and electoral reforms. One of the most talked about topics of needed reformed is in the area of Mexico,s energy sector and until very recently it was widely assumed that this important industry would be the next focus of the GOM,s 
attention. However, for both historical reasons and Mexican perceptions of national sovereignty, energy is one of the more controversial items on the GOM,s reform agenda; one sure to generate opposition from across the POLITICAL spectrum. Perhaps because of this the GOM decided to hold off on energy reform during the current legislative session and on February 1, it announced that labor reform would now be given a higher priority. ¶3. As late 2007 the topic of labor reform often became the subject of speculation with regard to when the GOM would take on this complicated issue. More recently this speculation has grown as the GOM,s Secretary of Labor, Javier Lozano Alarcon, made an increasing number of public statements about the government,s intention to propose far reaching changes to Mexico,s labor laws. One of the themes stressed by Secretary Lozano in his public statements was that any reform SIPDIS proposals would be developed in consultation with both organized labor and the private sector. The ultimate goal of the GOM,s reform proposals, the Labor Secretary stated, would be to promote productivity and facilitate job creation. Public statements by other senior Labor Secretariat (STPS) officials offered assurances to organized labor that the reforms the GOM ultimately proposed would not alter fundamental worker rights currently protected by the relevant articles of the constitution which serve as the basis for Mexico,s &Federal Labor Law.8 LABOR RIGHTS IN THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTION -------------- ¶4. Mexico,s Federal Labor Laws are derived from the country,s constitution, specifically Article 123, which establishes a set of principals and rules applicable to all MEXICO 00000354 002 OF 003 laws regulating labor relations. Over time these rules have developed into an intricately detailed set of regulations primarily covering the obligations employers have towards employees. Article 123 and the laws derived from it establish such basic protections as the rights to organize, bargain collectively and to strike. Federal Labor Law also covers such topics as union autonomy, mandatory profit sharing as well as compensation guidelines and the formation and regulation of unions and their activities. ¶5. Many of the rules and regulations contained in Mexican Federal Labor Law are extremely complex. In the majority of instances the law tilts heavily toward workers and against employers. These regulatory statutes are viewed by many in Mexico,s organized labor movement as if they all had the force of constitutional law. Any meaningful change of these regulations would probably require some modification of the constitution. Consequently, despite STPS assurances about not changing fundamental worker rights, it is difficult to envision a situation that would permit significant labor reform without in some way changing Article 123 of the Mexican constitution. GOM TRIAL BALLOONS ON LABOR REFORM -------------- ¶6. The assurances given by the STPS with regard to protecting fundamental worker rights were recently re-affirmed by President Calderon himself in separate meetings with the leaders of two of the three largest national labor federations in Mexico. Neither Calderon, nor anyone authorized to speak on behalf of his administration on labor related issues, have provided much detailed information on the proposed reform the GOM will ultimately present to congress. A lack of specific detailed information notwithstanding, STPS officials have floated a number of trial balloons on possible labor reform proposals. ¶7. During some initial meetings with Mexican Federal Deputies (equivalent to US Congressmen),Secretary Lozano offered up for discussion the possibility of proposed legislation to both strengthen and promote the use of individual employment contracts. Mexico,s national petroleum company, Pemex, has already began using individual employment contracts as a way to standardize employment rules for thousands of workers classified as technical staff and/or mid level management (Reftel A). Lozano also raised the possibility of proposing legislation that would allow the authorities to withdraw legal recognition from any union that failed to update its membership list every six months. The aim of this proposal would be to address a growing problem in which the threat of a strike is used, often by bogus unions, to extort money from businesses (Reftel B). ¶8. At approximately the same time Secretary Lozano discussing possible labor reform proposals with appropriate Federal Deputies, a senior STPS official used a forum organized by Mexico,s banking industry to float some additional trial balloons. The official informed forum participants that the STPS was in the process of studying the viability of 196 different potential reform proposals. Some of the possible proposals aired during the forum included such things as bringing some balance to the tilt that current Federal Labor Law has toward the worker and against the employer; particularly with regard to the extremely expensive procedures for firing unsatisfactory or unnecessary workers, facilitating the hiring of skilled foreign nationals (implement something similar to the H-1B Visa program used by US employers),and the establishment of national standards for sub-contracting and outsourcing work. ORGANIZED LABOR,S REACTION -------------- ¶9. The reaction of Mexico,s organized labor movement to the GOM,s reform trial balloons has ranged from a heavily condition expression of willing to work with the government on its proposal to outright rejection. None of Mexico,s MEXICO 00000354 003 OF 003 large national labor federations is prepared at this time to accept any significant modification of Article 123 of the constitution. Most have stated that the only problem they see with Article 123 is that the laws and regulations derived from it are not fully enforced. ¶10. At least two of the larger national federations, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) and the Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC),both of whom are officially linked to Mexico,s former ruling party, have indicated that they will reserve judgment on the GOM,s reform proposal until they have actually been presented in writing to the legislature. A third large federation, the National Workers Union (UNT),which is un-officially linked to Mexico,s current main opposition party, has rejected the GOM,s possible proposals sight unseen. ¶11. To varying degrees, all of the major players within Mexico,s organized labor movement have reacted with skepticism to the currently available information on the GOM,s proposed labor reforms. A widely quoted and highly respected lawyer and labor expert, Justiniani Alcalde, has described the proposed reforms as a method of &stacking the decks8 against Mexican workers. According to Alcalde, the currently available information about the GOM,s proposed reforms, show that the government,s intent is to use outsourcing as a way of reducing the power of organized labor and to use individual employment contract as a way to undermine the effectiveness of collective bargaining. Alcalde also says that the reform proposals would nullify the current provisions of Federal Labor Law that require employers to implement profit sharing mechanisms and, most importantly, severely restrict the constitutionally protected right to organize and to strike. COMMENT -------------- ¶12. The majority of Mexico,s labor laws were written for a different time for use under very different conditions than those which prevail in today,s global economy. As currently written the current laws are not up to the task of either helping Mexico become more competitive or of protecting basic worker rights. This is not to say that the intent of Mexico,s labor laws is or should be to do one thing or the other but as things now stand these laws fail to accomplish either of these goals. The Calderon administration is right to try and tackle the issue of labor reform but the task will not be easy. Labor unions in Mexico genuinely believe that workers already suffer from having too few legal protections of their basic rights and they are unlikely to quietly accept what they perceive as a further diminution of those rights. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / GARZA