In Mexico, Reforms Come at Labor's Expense

Stratfor: Two sweeping reform packages passed by Mexico's current administration — energy and education reform — signify major blows for the country's most powerful unions. Although the two packages differ greatly in scope and impact, together they herald substantial changes in the Mexican labor sector, effectively reducing the influence of two of Mexico's most powerful unions.

So far, the efforts to block implementation that have generated the most unrest and media attention in the country belong to the National Coordinator of Education Workers, a dissident faction within the National Education Workers Union. The faction has put up a public but largely ineffective fight against the reforms. But when the dissident group called to block June 7 elections, it failed to generate the necessary participants to carry out its threat. Now, the National Education Workers Union, one of the largest labor organizations in Latin America, will have to answer to federal oversight partly in the form of teacher evaluations. Read more.