He may 1 The term expires for the unions to officially register the consultations to legitimize their collective bargaining agreements (CCT) in force, although they will have until the July 31st to perform this exercise. This is what is proposed in an agreement of the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration (CFCRL) for the relief of these processes.

This decision generated controversy as to whether this is an extension for unions that have not yet been able to legitimize their contracts. The agreement is being analyzed by the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer) and instructs the CFCRL to carry out the necessary steps so that the consultations are carried out no later than the last day of July of this year.

“The date to register legitimation consultation events expires on May 1, 2023Therefore, all collective agreements that have not registered a date for their legitimization before that period will be terminated. On the other hand, the date to carry out the legitimation consultations that are registered before May 1 of this year, expires on July 31, 2023”, clarified the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) in a statement.

According to specialists consulted, the term that the unions will have to carry out the consultations it is not an extension, but is due to factors related to the operational capacity of the CFCRL itself. Carlos Ferran Martínez, partner of the firm Ferran Martínez Abogados, describes the controversy that has arisen in recent days as a “false debate.”

“There is a broader term for the relief of the consultations. The first act in this game of legitimation is to register it, that term expires on May 1, and the other is until when the query is verified. What they just tell us is that the consultation it can take more time due to the organization and load of the center itself, nothing more”, explains the specialist.

The legitimization of collective contracts is a legal obligation for unions that is part of the 2019 labor reform. The objective of the exercise is for the workers themselves to decide, through their personal, free, direct and secret vote, if they support their CCT and the working conditions under which they find themselves.

“The contracts that are going to be legitimized are those that have registered their consultation until May 1. What is extended is the term that the Federal Center has to vent the consultations, this was to be expected because at first there was a lack of knowledge about the process, then the pandemic arrived that forced us to lock ourselves up at home and the unions did not feel comfortable Thinking of legitimizing at the time. Yes, it is seen with good eyes that the Deadline for making inquiries spreads”, says Nadia González Elizondo, a specialist in Labor Law.

According to data from the CFCRL, until now they have legitimized 13,048 collective bargaining agreements (with a cutoff of February 17), which represents 9.4% of the 139,000 CCTs that the authorities estimate are registered in Mexico.

“In May the possibility of carrying out a legitimation request. For the consultation, neither the Federal Labor Law nor the legitimation protocol itself provide for the times that it can take, there is even no defined date for the final resolution. After the may 1 Legitimization requests are no longer received and it cannot be otherwise,” says Alfonso Bouzas, coordinator of the Citizen Observatory for Labor Reform.

The labor authorities estimate that more than 85% of the collective agreements will not be legitimized because they are employer protection documents or that they are no longer valid because they were carried out for specific works, as occurs in the construction industry.

According to Alfonso Bouzas, progress has been slow, although this was expected. “Those that are not legitimized, tells us about various realities, one is contracts that were registered and the companies disappeared and, of course, there will be contracts that will not be legitimized because they are absurd recordsfor example, fishermen’s cooperative unions, or contracts that put plaques on construction sites and signed a both and they registered it before a board.”

The day after May 1

From Nadia González’s perspective, the unions that have really had an interest in legitimizing their CCTs are the ones that had a active union life, but they are few. In this sense, after May 1 our country will enter a stage where the trade unionism that will survive will be the one that is closest to the labor force, in addition to the fact that from now on there will be more fights for ownership of the contracts.

For Carlos Ferran Martínez, the change will be as radical or minor depending on the workplace. “If we talk about a small company that had a protection contract, but really there was not and there is no interest of the people in unionizing, because it does not change anything, only the boss will save a wool that he gave to the union. But there will be cases where there is a genuine interest to unionize and if the collective contract is terminated, we do see a new dispute”.

According to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), only the 12.6% of workers in the country are affiliated to a union. However, since 2019 the level of unionization has maintained a constant growth, before that year its behavior was volatile.

Alfonso Bouzas affirms that after May 1 the real representation of different unions. “The representation of the working class will be located in its true dimension and that will rebuild labor relations and even with political power.”

But it also fosters a scenario for other workers to organize and create new unions. “That door opens for everyone and it will be the workers who will define the next steps”, he points out.

Is a union-free scenario likely?

The disappearance of collective contracts that will not be legitimized and the loss of representation that some union organizations may have has put into debate the possibility that more companies achieve a union free environment. But, although it is said easy, this implies a great challenge.

Carlos Ferran Martínez does not rule out that this is possible, but putting it into practice requires nearest companies to working people. “If you are going to adopt a non-unionization policy, based on the fact that employees are not interested, the best recommendation is to be closer than ever, with better communication and times to review better conditions, because otherwise, they will He’s going to feel the need for a union.”

Nadia González agrees with this. This scenario, she affirms, poses the challenge of strengthening the departments of Human Resources. “You have to do a better job in compliance and more management work, not only comply with the law, but implement policies that allow you to have a constant dialogue with the workforce and that workers are calm when channeling their doubts, that is what that will really prevent candidates from feeling like they need union representation.”

However, in the opinion of Alfonso Bouzas, although companies seek to take advantage of the situation to avoid unionization, the rules introduced by the 2019 labor reform make it impossible to contain the freedom of association that the workers have.

Although, the specialist acknowledges, the greatest challenge facing said reform, at least in the field of Collective negotiationis that there is a “passivity, consequence of decades of domination that have led workers to lose interest and motivation to seek collective defense, in addition to the inability of unions to offer alternatives.”