Andrea Becerril
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, September 1, 2024, p. 12
Over the past six years, the Senate of the Republic has achieved “historic reforms in labor matters, which are equivalent to 57 percent of all the modifications that the Federal Labor Law (LFT) has had since 1970 and are also fundamental changes for workers,” warned the leader of the National Miners’ Union, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.
On his last day as senator, he said he is satisfied, since in the 65th legislature that concluded yesterday, in accordance with the policy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, he achieved successes that impact the well-being of the working class and their organizations and that, from the start, established freedom and union democracy.
From today, from the Chamber of Deputies, he said, he will continue to push for the reforms that are still pending, including the bill that is in San Lázaro to double the bonus for workers and the initiative to reduce the work day.
Gómez Urrutia highlighted that the Labor and Social Security Commission, which he chaired, approved 160 initiatives, including agreements, reforms and conventions. Of these, 15 were reforms to the LFT, a figure much higher than that of other governments. Under Carlos Salinas there were no modifications, under Fox and Calderón, one or two, and under Peña Nieto, three, one of them concerning labor, which harmed the working class.
Instead, he said, “our 15 reforms to the LFT, which were enacted in the Official Journalrepresent considerable advances for the economy, the stability of workers and for the democratization of unions, “In these six years we approved laws without precedent in more than half a century of legislation governing labor-management relations.
He explained that the most important one is the one that prohibits subcontracting. “I think it was the most important one of this government, because it stopped the system of exploitation and labor simulation that already affected 10 million workers.
“In 2019, when I presented an initiative, this system of exploitation grew year after year, leaving workers without job stability, without the right to bonuses or profit sharing, and unable to unionize. There was no employment relationship with the main company, but with third parties or contractors.
It was a very important achievement to have stopped this system from affecting the working life of the country. In a year and a half, it was reversed by half and almost 5 million workers were able to unionize and enjoy the benefits established by law.
She also highlighted the reforms on equal pay, recognition of the rights of domestic workers, parity between private and public sector employees, and decent vacations, which were increased from six to 12 days.
Ratification of ILO Convention 98
Gómez Urrutia recalled that when the legislature began in the Senate, in September 2018, he achieved the ratification of Convention 98 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on freedom of association and collective bargaining, which Mexico had signed 60 years ago, but due to pressure from companies, it was frozen.
In 2019, he added, with the approval of the labor reform, to adapt the legislation to what was agreed in the T-MEC, union freedom was endorsed and workers were allowed to join the organization they wanted and could free themselves from employer unions and protection contracts.
Many workers, fed up with charrismo, with being exploited instead of defending their rights, approached me and I decided to create the International Confederation of Workers, which already has a million members from all over the country.
He recently said that together with other unions, such as the CROM and the CROC, he founded the General Workers Association, which aims to replace the Labor Congress, in order to revive the labor movement. As a deputy, he will present the initiatives of the new union.
