Note published in El Economista, Empresas [Companies] section by María del Pilar Martínez.
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In recent weeks, the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board has accelerated head counting in different sectors: mining as well as the cement or the brewing sectors, despite the fact that an important number of workers, who must issue their secret and direct vote, are involved.
Even though the epidemiological traffic light is orange, with more than 100 workers that are vulnerable to contagion by Covid-19, the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board (JCFA) called 1,355 employees from the Compañía Cervecera de Zacatecas to vote on Wednesday, September 23, in order to define the union that will represent them.
In recent weeks, the JFCA has accelerated head counting – union elections – in in different sectors: mining as well as the cement or the brewing sectors, despite the fact that an important number of workers, who must issue their secret and direct vote, are involved.
According to File IV-421/2009, on Friday, September 18, the JFCA notified the Independent Union of Workers of the Compañía Cervecera Zacatecas, who requested that the union headcount be conducted, and the National Union of Workers and Employees of the Food, Beverage Industry and their Derivatives of the Mexican Republic that the headcount will be conducted next Wednesday, which means that the entire logistics process requires to be accelerated to enable the voting to be carried out.
Interviewed in this regard, Oscar de la Vega, legal representative, said that the company will file an amparo for the process to be suspended “there is a high risk associated to intending to carry out a headcount involving a large number of workers”, he stated.
It should be noted that this sector was included as an essential activity in the month of June, and is currently in a process of compliance with all safety standards and, therefore, they believe that this is not the time to conduct an electoral process “before complying to the right to freedom of association, it is important to guarantee the right to health”, explained De la Vega.
He also insisted that “the company is not opposed to holding elections to enable the workers to be the ones who determine which their union will be, but doing so at this time implies an extremely high risk. It is impossible for the company to organize a headcount with these characteristics in less than 48 hours”.
Supervision of the reform
The head of the Department of Labor and Social Welfare, Luisa María Alcalde, visited the state of Zacatecas to supervise the progress made on the labor reform and called for the legitimization of collective bargaining agreements and for unions to make the necessary modifications to their bylaws, as this entity will transition to the new labor model in the month of November.
“This process (the legitimization of agreements), in regard to which the law establishes a maximum term of four years for its implementation, is a process that must be conducted as one of the key ones for us to be able to start. If the legitimization is not conducted within a term of 4 years, a term that expires on May 1, 2023, the collective bargaining agreement in question will cease to be valid”, she stated.
