The machinery of labour reform It has been running for three years now and as of October it will be operating fully throughout the country. And although this year concludes the implementation of the labor model that contemplates new conflict resolution mechanisms and rules of trade union democracythere is still resistance to change in several sectors.
“Increasingly we are seeing this change in culture. But of course, there is a lot of resistance because we know that there are many collective agreements in the country that the workers do not know, sometimes they do not even know their union, their leaders, much less the statutes. It is evident that in these cases we have to break with this”, details in an interview Alfredo Domínguez Marrufo, general director of the Labor Registry and Conciliation Center (CFCRL).
The 2019 labor reform defined a process of legitimization of all existing collective agreements to guarantee that these documents have the support of the workers through the personal, free, direct and secret voteone of the new rules for collective bargaining and the election of union leaders.
However, despite the resistance that can still be found, Domínguez Marrufo points out that the transformation of the work culture has made good progress and there is more confidence in the new model. In addition, the authorities have observed a greater interest of the employers themselves so that the unions legitimize their contracts, granting all the facilities.
“What we are observing is that more and more both companies and unions are adapting their labor Relations and they are having closer contact with their workers,” he points out.
The official considers that the role played by the CFCRL in consultations so that the workers elect a new union to represent them, as in the cases of General Motors in Silao, Guanajuato, or Tridonex and Panasonic, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, has improved the confidence in the new processes of trade union democracy.
“When it is seen that we are acting in a totally impartial, professional manner, with reliable standards, guaranteeing that workers vote freely, that they are not coerced, threatened or deceived regarding the consequences of deciding on one option or another, the message is clearly is permeating with other workers and trade union centers. This is building trust,” she notes.
Despite this, the head of the CFCRL acknowledges that there may be mistrust towards the new authorities created with the labour reform of 2019. “We have had to gradually convince, but with acts, with facts, with concrete actions. All the union registrations that are being granted and all the statutes that are modified have to be done with the real participation of the workers and by digital means, there are no procedures where complicity or influence can take place, because everything is digital, everything is auditable”.
Facing the implementation of the last phase of the labor reform, where the CFCRL, conciliation centers and local and federal labor courts will start operations in the remaining 12 states, Alfredo Domínguez considers that there are still areas for improvement, especially in digitization of union proceedings.
“We are in a process of continuous improvement, and it is not choreo or discourse. We are permanently meeting with actors in the world of work to improve our platform, make it more user-friendly and more interactive, and even make procedures simpler. Of course this involves time and effort from many people, but it is part of what we are going to improve, our platform”.
Advances in labor justice
One of the great changes achieved with the labour reform It is the time in which the workers achieve the resolution of a conflict with their employer.
At the federal level, about 71% of labor disputes they are resolved through conciliation, but at the local level the proportion rises to 80%, to a great extent this is due to the fact that more than 50% of the problems in the federal jurisdiction are presented against dependencies or productive companies of the State .
“Before, we had trials that took an average of four or five years, depending on whether the Conciliation Board was local or federal, or the entity where the conflict arose. Today 71% of these conflicts are resolved in conciliation and the few that go to court are resolved in an average of four to five months, when a lot. We are seeing a radical change in agility and promptness in conflict resolution”, he highlights.
Much of this change, he points out, responds to the fact that conciliation is being privileged over “wear and tear or conflict”, ending with a “litigation industry” that he was betting on extensive trials, hoping that one of the two parties would get tired or even refrain from claiming their rights. “That’s changing,” she stresses.
For now, the issues that are being reconciled the most at the federal level have to do with the separation of workers from a company and the payment of benefits. “We are verifying that there is no waivers of rights and that all benefits are covered.
