Note published on February 8 in El Economista, Empresas [Companies] Section by María del Pilar Martínez.
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Recent union processes are a clear example of the activity that will take place within companies in order to comply with the 2019 labor reform and with the labor chapter of the USMCA, as it is expected that Mexico changes in order to eliminate all of that bogus unionism, explained labor experts.
People interviewed by the specialists stated that the “union effervescence” at General Motors will be maintained, the process of which has not ended; this will bring a change in the automotive industry in regard to collective bargaining.
Manuel Fuentes, a labor lawyer explained that “what happened at General Motors is a breath of oxygen for the hope of workers, among the union community above all, and because of international monitoring, as this is how changes and improvements can be made to collective bargaining agreements.”
He emphasized that the more than fifty companies that exist in the country and which provide direct and indirect jobs to close to a million people, obviously, “give an idea of the importance of why the United States argues that this has meant a loss of jobs for them and in Mexico, because what we can see is that this huge industry needs to ensure that there are truly decent wages for the workers and good collective bargaining agreements.”
Additionally, he pointed out that the labor reform also expands freedom, even for “non-unionization”; the cases may arise in General Motors “in which workers prefer not to be affiliated. The labor reform itself facilitated, in article 110, the possibility of the worker requesting from the employer not having to pay any type of union dues. Although the labor reform supports the concept of union democracy on the one hand, at the same time it allows the weakening of the unions, and this double scenario allows the opening of a wide door in which the number of workers that do not want to become unionized is increased.”
Meanwhile Ricardo Martínez foresees that “there will be a stronger unionism in the country and employers have to face it and be better employers, provide better working conditions and unions must represent their union members strongly, but without wiping companies out because, otherwise, we will be out of our jobs.”
He added that “the General Motors case is a very clear example of the application of the collective labor reform. First, they lost their legitimation with the vote of over 60% who said that they no longer wanted that collective bargaining agreement or that union, and there you realize that the freedom of association of workers is now transmitted; but the interference of the United States is also clearly seen, it got highly involved there with the NGOs and the interference of leftist unions and of the new unionism can also be clearly seen.”
For his part, Germán de la Garza de Vecchi, Leading partner of Labor Services at Deloitte México, added that “it is interesting that the General Motors process has broken paradigms, it has been answered that there is a new unionism, and therefore, more than ever, the decision of the workers within an organization has more weight than ever. This new way of legitimizing collective bargaining agreements will also generate a rebalancing of the union forces in the country.”
This process marks a new reality in Mexico, and it is a sign of the new era in collective matters in the country.
