* Government says bill will create 400,000 jobs a year
* Critics say bill hurts worker’s rights
* Unions less affected than in previous drafts
By Miguel Gutierrez
MEXICO CITY, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Mexico’s Senate on Tuesday
approved a wide-reaching but watered down labor reform bill in
the biggest shake-up of the country’s job market in more than
four decades.
The bill’s approval came after a protracted tussle between
outgoing President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party (PAN)
and pro-union hardliners within the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) of president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto. The PRI has
traditionally relied on union support.
“We shouldn’t underestimate what we have,” said PAN senator
Javier Lozano. “It is a very good labor reform economically
speaking which will really stimulate competitiveness and
productivity, and will modernize labor relations.”
Nonetheless, the bill, approved by 99 votes to 28, has been
criticized by some leftist politicians who accused the
government of trampling on the country’s workers.
“What we’re doing here is annulling worker’s rights,” said
Alejandra Barrales, a senator from the leftist Party of the
Democratic Revolution (PRD).
The bill, which the government said will create up to
400,000 jobs a year, contains a raft of measures, including
changes that would make it easier for firms to hire and fire
workers and shorten labor disputes. However, parts of the bill
that sought to make unions more transparent were cut back.
Pena Nieto sent a tweet congratulating Congress on the
passage of the bill, which he said would “improve the
productivity and competitiveness” of Mexico.
Under the new measures, work contracts will be more
flexible, enshrining trial periods and initial training
contracts in labor laws. Regulations will also be tightened on
outsourcing of personnel, while the minimum wage will rise from
an hourly to a daily rate.
The reform also strengthens the rights of working women,
including outlawing gender-based discrimination and helping
mothers plan their work schedules.
UNIONS LESS AFFECTED
Unions will have to publish their regulatory statutes on the
Ministry of Labor’s website, but many of the tougher measures
against them – including rules to force them to show how they
manage members’ fees – were dropped.
Reformers have been trying for years to bring Mexico’s
antiquated labor laws up to date and received a boost in
September when Calderon tried to fast-track the legislation
through Congress.
But before the bill left the lower house, where the PRI can
muster a slim majority with the help of allies including the
union-backed New Alliance Party, Pena Nieto’s party stripped
some of the less union-friendly measures.
Nonetheless, the PRI lacks a majority in the Senate where
the PAN, alongside allies from other parties, was able to push
its reform through after it ping-ponged between the houses.
Analysts said the reform, which relied on cross-party
support between the PAN and the PRI, could herald a new era of
bilateral cooperation, but that politicians missed an
opportunity to push through a more wide-ranging bill.
“It should have been stronger,” said Javier Oliva, a
political scientist at Mexico’s UNAM university. “In Mexico
we’re prone to making half-hearted decisions.”
