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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Mexico (RATIFICATION: 1950)

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Registration of trade unions and accreditation of elected trade union representatives (“toma de nota”). In its previous requests, the Committee noted: (i) the allegations of the refusal of applications for trade union registration, and various obstacles to the establishment and recognition of independent trade unions, contained in the observations of IndustriALL Global Union (IndustriALL), and (ii) the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and IndustriALL alleging that the accreditation procedure (toma de nota), whereby elected trade union leaders are required, in order to take office, to obtain a certificate from the labour authorities attesting that the elections were held in accordance with the trade union constitution, continues to give rise to many abuses undermining the freedom of workers to elect their representatives, even though the Supreme Court of Justice has restricted the scope of this procedure through its case law. In this respect, the Committee took due note of the detailed statistical information provided on the procedures of registration and accreditation of elected representatives. The Government therefore undertook to follow up on the allegations of refusal to register independent trade unions in several factories in the export processing (maquila) industry in Ciudad Juárez and the Committee also requested it to comment on another allegation of refusal of registration, referring to a trade union in the oil industry, for which the application has been pending since 2014. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in general that: (i) the functions of registration of trade unions have been transferred to the Federal Labour Conciliation and Registration Centre, an autonomous entity that takes impartial decisions on the merits of the registrations (in accordance with the Government’s implementation plan, these functions will be fully exercised as from 1 October 2021); (ii) under the reform of the Federal Labour Act, the principles of autonomy, equity, democracy, legality, transparency, certainty, cost-free nature, immediacy and respect of freedom of association and its guarantees must be observed in the registration of trade unions, and when updating their regulations (section 364 bis was added to the Federal Labour Act to establish that, with regard to trade union registration and updating of regulations, workers’ wishes and the collective interest will prevail over formal aspects, thus prioritizing the autonomy of the unions and avoiding any type of interference in their internal activities); (iii) a maximum time limit of ten days is established for the authority to grant the registrations corresponding to the updating of regulations and another of 20 days for the initial registration of any organization (these time lines were significantly reduced to provide greater certainty to the organizations and to issue the corresponding registrations more quickly, as well as to avoid any delay that could affect their activities). The Committee notes, however, that IndustriALL continues to denounce the use of the accreditation procedure (toma de nota), as a mechanism for union control in violation of the Convention (for example allegations are made of resistance and delays in issuing accreditation of the elected leadership of the Mexican Electricians’ Union in July 2020). While welcoming the developments of the labour reform referred to above to expedite, and eliminate interference in, the accreditation procedure, the Committee regrets that it has not received any information from the Government on the specific allegations mentioned above, on which the Government had undertaken to follow up. The Committee urges the Government, as part of the implementation and follow-up procedure of the labour reform, and in consultation with the social partners concerned, to effectively monitor and follow up on the allegations of violations of the Convention relating to the accreditation procedure and to keep it informed of any developments in this respect.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. The Committee recalls that for many years it has been requesting the Government to take the necessary measures to amend various aspects of the legislation on the right to strike of state employees, particularly: (i) section 99(II) of the Federal Act on State Employees (LFTSE), which establishes the requirement of two thirds of the workers in the public body concerned to call a strike; (ii) the legislation that restricts the right to strike of certain state employees (including workers in the banking sector and those in many decentralized public bodies, such as the National Lottery and the Housing Institute) only to situations involving a general and systematic violation of their rights (section 94, Title 4, of the LFTSE, and section 5 of the Act issuing regulations under article 123B(XIII bis) of the Constitution); and (iii) several laws and regulations related to public services (the Railway Regulations Act, the National Vehicle Registration Act, the General Channels of Communication Act and the internal regulations of the Ministry of Communications and Transport), which provide for the possibility of requisitioning staff in the event that the national economy is affected. The Committee notes that, although the Government had previously reported on a legislative initiative proposing the reform of various provisions of the LFTSE to enable the workers concerned to exercise the right to strike, in its latest report the Government merely indicates that the requested amendments were not made. The Committee also notes that the National Workers’ Union (UNT) reports that the right to strike is practically impossible for state employees. While requesting the Government to provide its observations in this respect, the Committee expresses the firm hope that it will be able to note progress relating to the various amendments to the LFTSE referred to above, and any other measures deemed necessary to ensure that workers not exercising authority in the name of the State can exercise the right to strike. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this regard.