Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The labor laws of Mexico represent an historic conquest for its workers and the trade union movement.' The Mexican Constitution itself guarantees workers' the right of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, the right to strike, and the eight-hour day.2 The Federal Labor Law (FLL) amplifies the constitutional protections with extended provisions protecting working conditions, health insurance, pen= sions, job descriptions, working schedules, and job security.3 Like the original Wagner Act in the United States, Mexican labor law is tutelary in nature: it is explicitly designed to protect workers against the power of owners and managers.

The historically protective function of Mexican labor law is now under assault. From without, multinational corporations, mainly from North America, are bringing their anti-labor and anti-union policies to their employee and industrial relations practices in Mexico.' From within, successive administrations of the Institutional Revolutionary Party have abandoned effective enforcement of Mexican labor laws in an effort to attract foreign investment.' In this endeavor they have been able to count on compliance from important sectors of the official labor movement, the Mexican Workers' Confederation (Confederacion de Trabajadores de Mexico or CTM).

The establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),8 without an adequate social dimension that protects workers' rights, poses a further threat to Mexican workers and unions. Long before NAFTA took effect, transnational companies began to implant their "flexibility" models of labor relations in Mexico, and labor law enforcement (or non-enforcement) became a means of attracting investment and controlling workers. The question now is whether the process of labor policy integration represented by the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation9 (NAALC, the labor side accord to NAFTA) will accelerate the retreat of Mexican labor law in the face of the pressures being put on it, or encourage a renewal of the historical protective function of the law.

This paper will describe the pressures that have led to a deformation of Mexican labor law. Part I will examine the policies of multinational corporations active in Mexico and their imposition of U.S.-style industrial relations. Part II will review government policies and actions, including those of the government-dominated CTM. Part III will discuss prospects for the NAALC in light of industrial relations practices and labor law enforcement.

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