Note published on May 11 in Reforma, Negocios [Business] Section by Verónica Gascón.
As a result of the labor reform, there is an increase in union activity at the regional level, particularly in the Center, North and the Bajío.
This shows a relation with the areas in which there is greater business and industrial activity and, additionally, unions tend to seek to represent workers at work centers that are close to one another, in the opinion of an expert.
“These days union activity is not being driven so much by sector, but by state or by region; when a plant located at a certain place, industrial park or state becomes “afflicted”, this activity starts to grow.
“This has a very simple explanation in economic terms, and it is that, for a union, it is expensive to have the structure and management of a collective bargaining agreement , investing in a geographically dispersed area is very expensive and, therefore, what is best is to concentrate all of the resources in a single industrial park, in a single geographical place”, noted Blanya Correal, of the De la Vega & Martínez Law Firm.
She pointed out that union activity is also found in areas with industrial and business presence, such as the State of Mexico, Mexico City, and the Bajío, where auto parts and automotive companies are located.
Correal claims that if an analysis is made by number of active unionized workers, Nuevo León and Jalisco will stand out.
She added that, as part of this union activity, labor disputes have increased and calls to strike in the fourth quarter of 2022 reached unprecedented numbers as a result of the legitimation of collective bargaining agreements.
“We have started to notice that activity in union and labor matters is very different from the one that we had in the past”, the expert stated.
She believes that the big losers arising from the legitimation of collective bargaining agreements are the great union federations,
“We see that federations have started to become fractured, and everyone is trying to find a seat as best they can, and we see the emergence of independent unionism, and this causes significant changes in the union map. In the next three years we will see how this process settles”, she said.
She anticipated that, over the next three years, greater demands made by the unions will be made during the revision of collective bargaining agreements.
