The reduction of the working day to 40 hours will be a reality in Mexico, that is already a fact and that the transition will start in 2026. What is still up in the air is what the implementation will be like, what measures will accompany the change and when the reduction in working time will begin.
Recently, President Claudia Sheinbaum reported that The proposal will be presented in November prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) for the 40-hour work day.
Until now, what is known is that the dependence continues with closed-door negotiation tables with unions, business chambers and consulting firms also specialized to design a reform that allows a gradual and flexible transition.
“We already have the 40 hours“We just need to see how we are going to achieve them, without affecting anyone,” one of the sources involved in the negotiations told El Economista.
The reduction of the working day is emerging as one of the great changes in terms of work that the country has experienced. According to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), little more 30 million people They work more than 40 hours per week, they represent 73% of the country’s subordinate workers.
According to sources consulted by this medium, one of the changes that could accompany the reduction in working hours is extend the limit of overtime and regulate special days in the Federal Labor Law (LFT).
Both measures would seek to provide flexibility to employers to avoid negative effects with the reduction of working time, mainly in industries with 24/7 operations or atypical schemes.
Another point on which there is consensus, at least between employers and unions, is the 100% deductibility of benefitsa constant request during the public forums convened by the STPS between June and July of this year. However, sources agree that little progress has been made in the negotiation. “It is not convenient for the government, because it means having less income. But it is a benefit for companies and workers,” said one of the union representatives consulted.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare will have more meetings in the coming days to continue defining the transition scheme and accompanying measures.
Tentatively and as an open secret, the gradual reduction of the working day would begin on May 1, 2026, an emblematic date because, in addition to coinciding with Labor Day, it would have been one year since President Claudia Sheinbaum reaffirmed her commitment to the s40-hour work week before union representatives.
“It is almost a fact that the May 1 of the following year because companies would be given about five or six months to start with the first reduction in hours,” declared one of the sources close to the work tables.
Echoes in the Chamber of Deputies
The interest in the Chamber of Deputies in reducing the working day is notable, since the beginning of the current legislature, adding 16 initiatives that seek to reduce work timethe majority propose a 40-hour work week.
The Chamber of Deputies will be the Chamber of origin of the reform. Representative Maiella Gómez Maldonado, president of the Labor and Social Security Commission, has reiterated that once the proposal promoted by the Presidency of the Republic arrives, they will begin its analysis for ruling.
In that sense, a quick discussion of the reform is expected and before the end of the year, it could be endorsed in the Congress of the Union. In the Senate, Senator Geovanna Bañuelos, president of the Labor and Social Security Commission, has also recognized that the reduction of the working day is a priority issue.
