Mexico’s workweek debate must focus on the workers who have “phantom” families because their time with their children is consumed by the need to maintain their jobs. It is the two days of rest for these sectors that must be debated.
The deputies propose to reform Article 123 of Mexico’s Constitution to guarantee the right of two days of rest for every five days of work.
Mexico’s 40 hour workweek will only come into effect in 2030, critics say the legislation opens the door to 12 hour workdays and reduced overtime pay.
Dozens of consulted workers agree on a pattern: overtime is not negotiated, it is ordered and refusing it usually results in veiled threats, shift changes, pay cuts or disguised firings.
Mexico’s much-touted 40 hour workweek reform does not bring about a real reduction in the working day; on the contrary, it will become a more effective tool of exploitation and is an initiative designed for the benefit of employers and against the dignity of workers.
Mexico has an opportunity to reimagine working hours & well-being: instead, President Sheinbaum’s proposal offers a symbolic reduction that leaves intact a 6 day work week & opens the door to 12 hour days.
95 years after the International Labour Organization adopted 40 hours as a standard, Mexico, whose workers work the most among OECD countries, will finally adopt it.
Delays and increased business demands have provoked some unions, who initially agreed with the 2030 timeline, to demand an immediate implementation of the 40 hour workweek.
Mexico’s National Front for the 40-hour Workweek marks its second anniversary with nationwide mobilizations demanding an immediate reduction in working hours, in a country that works the most in the OECD.
Thousands of trade unionists gathered outside Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies to deliver the message that the union movement will not allow the reform to be diluted or for the business sector to impose conditions that limit its scope.