The reform to reduce again takes flight in Mexico. Within the framework of the commemoration of May 1, President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that from this week the work tables will begin for the implementation of this measure. “It cannot be done (the reduction) from one day to another, but the important thing is to see how we are going to do it and that it is an agreement that allows us to have better conditions for the obstacles,” the president said in the National Palace, in front of the main union leaders of the country. The objective of the federal government is to begin its implementation gradually until it reaches 40 hours in 2030.
The Secretary of Labor, Marath Bolaños, added that the debate will involve entrepreneurs, unions and workers. “This historic change will be made through a process of social dialogue, in which all the people involved will be taken into account. It must be clear, reducing the hours of work does not reduce productivity or reduces the general value, what it does is dignify the existence of the workers returning hours of their lives and valuing the work they do week by week,” said Bolaños this Thursday in the National Palace. The reduction of the working day, which has raised the criticism of some voices in the business sector, was one of Sheinbaum’s campaign promises.
The initiative to reduce the work week in Mexico is not new, however, it has not been able to advance in October 2022, the initiative was presented by the deputy of Morena, Susana Prieto Terrazas. After weeks of lobby and debate for and against, the proposal was frozen. Now, in the current administration, the Legislative Power also did not bring its discussion in the ordinary periods of the Chamber of Deputies.
According to the most recent data of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexico is one of the countries where people spend more time from their lives to their jobs: 2,226 hours worked a year, a higher figure with respect to Costa Rica, Chile, Israel or Russia. The last time a modification was made to the working day in Mexico was in 1917, more than a century ago. In the next few days the question will be dissipated if this waiting measure will have to be added one more year.
