Note published on august 20, 2021, on El Economista, section Empresas by María del Pilar Martínez
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Mexico has begun a transformation in the labor arena, in which freedom of association even includes non-unionization; in the event that the workers who voted against the legitimation of the collective bargaining agreement of General Motors wished not to belong to any union organization, this would be possible, as it is provided for in this manner by the labor reform promulgated in 2019.
German de la Garza de Vecchi, partner of Labor Services at Deloitte México, explained that “the vote at the Silao, Guanajuato plant will have the consequence of the collective bargaining agreement being terminated and, further along the line there could be another agreement with a new organization, or there could also be a new agreement with the current union, or the case of not even having a union could also arise.”
He added that, for now, nothing is written “this is a sample of the importance that workers are now acquiring in these procedures that are lived as the result of the 2019 labor reform.”
In that same sense Óscar de la Vega, partner at D&M Abogados, explained that it is important that freedom of association is respected in this process, because “one of the possibilities also open to the workers is “non-unionization”; that the case of people who do not wish to be represented by anyone is also valid.”
He explained that it is important to analyze the figures, because the difference in the number of votes shows that there are workers who were in favor of the “Trujillo” union, headed by Tereso Medina, the difference was 45-55 %, which gives it the possibility of continuing to fight for the certification to handle the new collective bargaining agreement.
“The problem is that, in order for this vote to happen under the previous system, it is first necessary for a strike to break out and then validation comes; that is, the new system in which a certificate of representativeness can define who has the qualification to enter into the agreement cannot be applied yet”, said de la Vega.
