Almost four years after the start of the mandatory process for the legitimation of existing collective bargaining agreements, the Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and Registration reports 244 agreements that were terminated, whether due to the emergence of new unions, to the workers being tired of their union, or because they simply did not know about their union, as revealed in the Ingeniería Laboral D&M Report, prepared by the De la Vega & Martínez Rojas Firm.
The report highlights that the labor reform established one of the great challenges of collective democracy, considering that over 85% of all companies in Mexico had protection agreements. “A proof of this is the low level of ratification of these agreements that, to date, and according to information from the Federal Center, reach a little over 15,000 collective bargaining agreements, which barely surpasses 10% of those that are reported as being registered”.
In this sense, the document states, “this new reality is highly interesting, particularly in understanding the behavior of workers’ voting as well as what is going through people’s heads when they exercise their collective right to the legitimation of their collective bargaining agreement.”
On this occasion, the failed legitimations reported by the Federal Center for Labor Conciliation and Registration are analyzed; as of April of 2023, it shows that 244 collective bargaining agreements were terminated as the result of a process of negative voting by the workers.
According to the Ingeniería Laboral D&M Report, the sectors with the highest number of terminated agreements as a result of failed legitimations are:
13% Automotive and auto parts
12% Retail
8% Food and Beverage mass consumption
8% Metals and raw materials
7% Tourism
5% Maquila
The report establishes three trends:
- a) In the automotive and maquila sectors, the terminations of collective bargaining agreements in failed legitimation events have been due to the pressure of independent unions.
- b) The second trend, in Retail companies and in some mass consumption companies, reveals a short union tradition, being a sector dominated by white unions.
- c) The metal and raw materials sector, on one hand, and the Hotel sector on the other hand, have had some tradition of union participation; nevertheless, workers are clearly tired of their unions and there is a need for renewing their collective representation.
The document says that there will be a before and an after May 1, the date on which the true dimension of unionism and of the new labor relationships that companies will undertake will be known.
