Protest at Labor Ministry Demands 40 Hour Work Week Immediately

This article by Lilian Hernández Osorio appeared in the July 7, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier leftist daily newspaper.

The National Front for 40 Hours demonstrated at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to demand immediate implementation of the 40-hour workweek, rather than gradually.

Front members accused Morena of using the proposal to win votes in its 2024 campaigns and now wanting to use it again until 2030.

During the protest, they criticized the fact that the president of the Senate’s Board of Directors, Gerardo Fernández Noroña, spoke of it as an issue of social justice, but now, as a legislator, he “washes his hands” and has been evasive on the issue.

While the Forum on the 40-Hour Workday was taking place in Quintana Roo, various members of this group held protests and demonstrations across the country to demand the approval of this labor reform, because Mexicans are among the workers who waste the most hours commuting to and from work.

If a reduction to 40 hours a week is achieved, they pointed out that there would be benefits to their health, as well as improvements in their family life, so legislators cannot delay this reform any longer, because when it suits them, they talk about being first-world, while other times they ignore it.