Mexico, .- The Mexican Chamber of Deputies began on Wednesday the process to discuss and vote on the labor reform that the US legislator Nancy Pelosi established as a condition for her Congress to vote on the Trade Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) .
“That is the function of this labor reform, because there are still many pending, but what we are proposing is that we are in the logic of the T-MEC,” said deputy of the National Regeneration Movement (Brunette), Maria de los Angeles. Huerta del Río.
Pelosi declared in early April that the US Congress will not vote on the ratification of the T-MEC until Mexico endorses this legislation.
The Mexican deputy commented that the labor reform ruling will be reviewed this day in the Labor and Social Welfare Commission with the goal of discussing in the plenary session of the lower house on Thursday, April 11, one of the last sessions before the recess of Holy Week.
“We are going to approve a labor reform very soon, we are in a logic that it is soon and fast,” said the deputy of Morena, a party that has a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and Senators.
Huerta stressed that the proposed labor reform is in line with the commitments made by Mexico in the T-MEC, as well as with Convention 98 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), ratified by Mexico in 2018.
“We believe that the reform we have to do is in line with what ILO Convention 98 already says, we are in total harmony,” said the deputy.
Among the points of the labor reform are the establishment of union democracy and freedom of association, the secret vote and the creation of work conciliation commissions that will replace the current Boards. “Workers are entitled to organize in a freer way,” he said.
The conciliation commissions will be responsible for settling disputes that arise between workers and employers, with the limit of trying to resolve them within a maximum period of 45 to 60 days to avoid prosecuting the proceedings, he said.
“We are going to try to make it shorter, the prejudicialization must not exceed 45 days instead of the year” that the labor law currently says, which indicates up to a year to achieve a work-life balance.
The labor reform, commented the deputy, also contemplates freedom of association and freedom of vote, as well as indicating that a union can be formed with 30% of the workers.
Morena, the party of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has 259 deputies – out of a total of 500 seats – although the number rises to 316 with the votes of his coalition formed by the Social Encuentro (PES-29) and Labor parties. (PT-28).
In the Chamber of Deputies there are 78 deputies from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), 47 from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), 28 from the Citizen Movement (MC), 11 from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), 11 from the Green Ecologist Party de México (PVEM) and 9 independents.
The legislative process in Mexico indicates that once the Chamber of Deputies approves the labor reform, it will be sent to the Senate for ratification, which could happen before April 30 of this year, when the current legislative period closes.
The Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, María Luisa Alcalde, has indicated that after the labor reform, the secondary laws will be ready before the middle of this year. (EFE)
