FNS News: In a virtually unprecedented development, labor protest is widening in the maquiladora industry of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. While worker dissatisfaction or protest is nothing new in the foreign-owned border factories that produce goods for export to the United States, previous manifestations of discontent in the generally union-free industry have usually been confined to one company at a time.
But recently, movements for better pay and working conditions- and union representation- have emerged at four different companies-Foxconn, Lexmark, ADC/Commscope and Eaton. Hundreds of workers have participated in street protests, hunger strikes and leafleting. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label labor reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labor reform. Show all posts
Apr 24, 2013
Mexico vote-buying scandal threatens president's agenda of reforms
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
April 23, 2013
Mexico City - Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday faced the most serious political crisis of his young government, an explosive dispute with rival parties over electoral dirty tricks that could imperil his ambitious reform plans.
Peña Nieto's highly touted Pact for Mexico, a kind of blueprint for his administration's agenda that had seemed to have won consensus from most major political groups, was on the verge of collapse after fresh reports of vote-buying by the president's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The government was forced to cancel a series of public events under the auspices of the Pact for Mexico to avoid the embarrassment of a boycott by the main opposition factions.
The first casualty would appear to be a broad reform to overhaul Mexico's financial sector, which was scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday. Read more.
By Tracy Wilkinson
April 23, 2013
Mexico City - Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday faced the most serious political crisis of his young government, an explosive dispute with rival parties over electoral dirty tricks that could imperil his ambitious reform plans.
Peña Nieto's highly touted Pact for Mexico, a kind of blueprint for his administration's agenda that had seemed to have won consensus from most major political groups, was on the verge of collapse after fresh reports of vote-buying by the president's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The government was forced to cancel a series of public events under the auspices of the Pact for Mexico to avoid the embarrassment of a boycott by the main opposition factions.
The first casualty would appear to be a broad reform to overhaul Mexico's financial sector, which was scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday. Read more.
Mar 10, 2013
A traditionalist shines through Mexico's fresh new face
Los Angeles Times
MEXICO CITY — They elected a youthful president, a self-styled defender of democratic principles who promised to bring the country up to 21st century standards.
But many Mexicans suspected that an old-fashioned dinosaur heart was beating beneath Enrique Peña Nieto's smartly tailored suits, an inheritance from his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose top-down, quasi-authoritarian rule defined much of Mexico's 20th century history.
On Sunday, after 100 days of living under Peña Nieto's rule, the Mexican people have a better idea of the ways in which their 46-year-old president, and his vintage political party, plan to manage the future of the United States' southern neighbor, a country rife with promise and peril. They are also discovering that Peña Nieto may be a kind of hybrid political creature, intent on effecting change while hewing to some of his party's older ways. Read more.
By Richard Fausset
March 10, 2013MEXICO CITY — They elected a youthful president, a self-styled defender of democratic principles who promised to bring the country up to 21st century standards.
But many Mexicans suspected that an old-fashioned dinosaur heart was beating beneath Enrique Peña Nieto's smartly tailored suits, an inheritance from his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose top-down, quasi-authoritarian rule defined much of Mexico's 20th century history.
On Sunday, after 100 days of living under Peña Nieto's rule, the Mexican people have a better idea of the ways in which their 46-year-old president, and his vintage political party, plan to manage the future of the United States' southern neighbor, a country rife with promise and peril. They are also discovering that Peña Nieto may be a kind of hybrid political creature, intent on effecting change while hewing to some of his party's older ways. Read more.
Oct 29, 2012
Mexican labor reform bill faces delay after dispute
* Law could be stalled after dispute over union transparency
* PRI leader says sections of the bill could be passed
By Miguel Gutierrez
(Reuters) Oct 25, 2012 MEXICO CITY - Mexico's efforts to carry out the biggest overhaul of its labor laws in four decades face delay after the party of incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday a dispute over the bill meant more time was needed to consider it.
The leader in the lower house of Congress of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said the bill no longer needed to be voted on by the end of October after the Senate insisted on changes to the proposal this week.
"We're going to give ourselves enough days and weeks to carry out the aim of harmonizing this law," PRI lower house leader Manlio Fabio Beltrones told reporters.
Presented by outgoing President Felipe Calderon at the start of September, the proposed law contains a raft of measures, including changes that would make it easier for firms to hire and fire workers and shorten labor disputes. Calderon was taking advantage of a new provision that allows the president to try to fast-track legislation through Congress in two months. Read more.
* PRI leader says sections of the bill could be passed
By Miguel Gutierrez
(Reuters) Oct 25, 2012 MEXICO CITY - Mexico's efforts to carry out the biggest overhaul of its labor laws in four decades face delay after the party of incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday a dispute over the bill meant more time was needed to consider it.
The leader in the lower house of Congress of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said the bill no longer needed to be voted on by the end of October after the Senate insisted on changes to the proposal this week.
"We're going to give ourselves enough days and weeks to carry out the aim of harmonizing this law," PRI lower house leader Manlio Fabio Beltrones told reporters.
Presented by outgoing President Felipe Calderon at the start of September, the proposed law contains a raft of measures, including changes that would make it easier for firms to hire and fire workers and shorten labor disputes. Calderon was taking advantage of a new provision that allows the president to try to fast-track legislation through Congress in two months. Read more.
Oct 17, 2012
Protests erupt in Mexico as Senate mulls labor reform bill
Global Post: Alex Pearlman October 17, 2012
Violence leaves over one hundred people arrested and schools shut down, as the Mexican legislature attempts to pass controversial labor reform laws.
A tense raid took place yesterday in Mexico's Michoacan state, as student protesters faced off against police after repeated hijackings and more than a week of protests against curriculum changes.
Police stormed three campuses, where students held buses and delivery trucks hostage, according to the BBC. Over 100 people were arrested and both protesters and police were injured.
According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, students also set 13 vehicles on fire in the latest and most violent of the many protests sweeping across Mexico since late September.
The students were protesting a planned change in the curriculum of their schools, known as normal schools, which prepare students for careers in teaching. They say learning English and computer science shouldn't be priorities for the rural areas they'll be working in, and had taken control of three sister campuses earlier this month. Read more.
Violence leaves over one hundred people arrested and schools shut down, as the Mexican legislature attempts to pass controversial labor reform laws.
A tense raid took place yesterday in Mexico's Michoacan state, as student protesters faced off against police after repeated hijackings and more than a week of protests against curriculum changes.
Police stormed three campuses, where students held buses and delivery trucks hostage, according to the BBC. Over 100 people were arrested and both protesters and police were injured.
According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, students also set 13 vehicles on fire in the latest and most violent of the many protests sweeping across Mexico since late September.
The students were protesting a planned change in the curriculum of their schools, known as normal schools, which prepare students for careers in teaching. They say learning English and computer science shouldn't be priorities for the rural areas they'll be working in, and had taken control of three sister campuses earlier this month. Read more.
Oct 2, 2012
Hourly wage in Mexico? Union members express fears of legislation
LATimesBlog: MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's lower house of Congress has passed a major labor-reform law -- the first changes in employment regulations in Mexico since 1970 -- that would alter the way bosses and employees interact before, during and after a job.
For organized workers like Antonieta Torres, a primly dressed 44-year-old government office assistant wearing eyeglasses, the law spells uncertainty.
"It's possible that there could be more jobs, but at miserable wages, with exploitation of workers," Torres said during a large union rally. "It would hurt all of us."
The outgoing administration of President Felipe Calderon, which succeeded in passing the bill with help from the party of incoming President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, said the law would boost job rolls and competition in the labor market.
For union members, the measure -- which is now on its way to Mexico's Senate -- would strip workers of what they called few relative benefits they enjoy under existing regulations, which they argue favor employers and large companies anyway.
The reforms would permit bosses to hire workers for trial periods and to base promotions on productivity, not seniority. The law also would ease the firing process and permits hourly wages, instead of the day-wage of existing law. Read more.
For organized workers like Antonieta Torres, a primly dressed 44-year-old government office assistant wearing eyeglasses, the law spells uncertainty.
"It's possible that there could be more jobs, but at miserable wages, with exploitation of workers," Torres said during a large union rally. "It would hurt all of us."
The outgoing administration of President Felipe Calderon, which succeeded in passing the bill with help from the party of incoming President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, said the law would boost job rolls and competition in the labor market.
For union members, the measure -- which is now on its way to Mexico's Senate -- would strip workers of what they called few relative benefits they enjoy under existing regulations, which they argue favor employers and large companies anyway.
The reforms would permit bosses to hire workers for trial periods and to base promotions on productivity, not seniority. The law also would ease the firing process and permits hourly wages, instead of the day-wage of existing law. Read more.
Oct 1, 2012
Mexico’s truth, from Mr. Calderon
Washington Post: Opinion By Editorial Board, Sept. 30
AMONG THE world’s democratic politicians, the lamest of lame ducks may be Mexico’s outgoing president. Felipe Calderón watched the election of his successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, in July, but Mr. Calderón’s term does not end until Dec. 1.
His government hasn’t shut down: The president is using new constitutional powers to force Mexico’s Congress to vote on a major labor market reform. On Thursday, security forces captured a drug-trafficking kingpin — one of three to be arrested last month. Read more.
AMONG THE world’s democratic politicians, the lamest of lame ducks may be Mexico’s outgoing president. Felipe Calderón watched the election of his successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, in July, but Mr. Calderón’s term does not end until Dec. 1.
His government hasn’t shut down: The president is using new constitutional powers to force Mexico’s Congress to vote on a major labor market reform. On Thursday, security forces captured a drug-trafficking kingpin — one of three to be arrested last month. Read more.
Sep 30, 2012
Mexico's lower house gives final approval to labor reform
(Reuters) Sep 29, 2012 - Mexico's lower house of Congress gave final approval on Saturday to a bill that would mark the biggest shake-up of the country's labor market in 42 years.
The final vote took place just before 4 a.m. following a raucous 14-hour debate that was led from a congressional balcony after leftist lawmakers stormed the chamber's rostrum and snatched the microphone from the speaker leading the session.
The bill was approved on a vote of 346-60 with one abstention and now moves to the Mexican Senate, which will have 30 days to approve or reject it.
In a show of cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administrations, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto supported the bill, which the PRI had gutted of measures aimed at curbing the power of unions. Read more.
The final vote took place just before 4 a.m. following a raucous 14-hour debate that was led from a congressional balcony after leftist lawmakers stormed the chamber's rostrum and snatched the microphone from the speaker leading the session.
The bill was approved on a vote of 346-60 with one abstention and now moves to the Mexican Senate, which will have 30 days to approve or reject it.
In a show of cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administrations, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto supported the bill, which the PRI had gutted of measures aimed at curbing the power of unions. Read more.
Sep 28, 2012
Mexico workers protest labor overhaul bill
LA Times: Workers oppose a bill that would change workplace and union rules, saying their rights are at risk. The bill's failure would be a blow to President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto. By Tracy Wilkinson and Cecilia Sanchez.
MEXICO CITY — Mexicans took to the streets Wednesday to protest a proposed law that is aimed at modernizing rules in the workplace and making Mexico's powerful, corrupt unions more accountable.
The protests represent an early salvo against the incoming government of President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, who promised broad reforms to stimulate the economy but who may encounter in the workers and their unions an insurmountable challenge.
Many workers say they fear that the so-called labor reform law would be abused to curtail the few protections they have. And the dinosaurian, notoriously undemocratic unions have long had a cozy, mutually beneficial relationship with Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and they will resist change that could cut into their power. Read more.
MEXICO CITY — Mexicans took to the streets Wednesday to protest a proposed law that is aimed at modernizing rules in the workplace and making Mexico's powerful, corrupt unions more accountable.
The protests represent an early salvo against the incoming government of President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, who promised broad reforms to stimulate the economy but who may encounter in the workers and their unions an insurmountable challenge.
Many workers say they fear that the so-called labor reform law would be abused to curtail the few protections they have. And the dinosaurian, notoriously undemocratic unions have long had a cozy, mutually beneficial relationship with Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and they will resist change that could cut into their power. Read more.
Sep 25, 2012
Mexico labor reform seeks to loosen hiring, union secrecy; workers say they will be the losers
AP: MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s main political parties agree that the country’s dysfunctional labor laws need to be retooled. What they don’t agree on is how, with a new proposal to loosen hiring and increase union democracy threatening to unleash a wave of labor unrest.
Advocates say the reform, which will allow part-time work, hourly wages and outsourcing, will help Mexico create the million new jobs per year it needs for young people and migrants returning from the United States. It is backed by both President Felipe Calderon, who submitted it to Congress this month, and President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto. Read more.
Advocates say the reform, which will allow part-time work, hourly wages and outsourcing, will help Mexico create the million new jobs per year it needs for young people and migrants returning from the United States. It is backed by both President Felipe Calderon, who submitted it to Congress this month, and President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto. Read more.
Sep 12, 2012
Mexico's Calderon eyes labor, fiscal law reforms in final months
(Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Tuesday he hopes to push through labor reforms needed to create jobs and boost economic growth, but was not certain if the proposals will pass Congress before he leaves office.
Earlier this month, he sent a new proposal to liberalize the country's antiquated labor laws to lawmakers as he sought to fast-track the legislation before leaving office at the end of November.
The proposed labor reform could be a litmus test of how incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN) cooperate in the new Congress, which lasts three years.
Calderon also plans to push through fiscal transparency laws to ensure greater accountability in government.
"I don't know if I will get a positive answer from Congress, but I hope that if Congress keeps the law, I will get at least one answer," Calderon told bankers and business executives in Singapore, noting it could take up to a month to get an answer.
"I am proposing to the Congress that any public tax revenue will be tracked for the people since the very beginning to the very end. That is possible today at Federal level because we are supporting transparency but that is not possible, not yet, at local level," he said.
Mexico's labor laws needed reform so that young people and women can work in the most favorable conditions, he said. Read more.
Earlier this month, he sent a new proposal to liberalize the country's antiquated labor laws to lawmakers as he sought to fast-track the legislation before leaving office at the end of November.
The proposed labor reform could be a litmus test of how incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN) cooperate in the new Congress, which lasts three years.
Calderon also plans to push through fiscal transparency laws to ensure greater accountability in government.
"I don't know if I will get a positive answer from Congress, but I hope that if Congress keeps the law, I will get at least one answer," Calderon told bankers and business executives in Singapore, noting it could take up to a month to get an answer.
"I am proposing to the Congress that any public tax revenue will be tracked for the people since the very beginning to the very end. That is possible today at Federal level because we are supporting transparency but that is not possible, not yet, at local level," he said.
Mexico's labor laws needed reform so that young people and women can work in the most favorable conditions, he said. Read more.
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