Donald Trump was no friend of the labour movement, nor of Mexico. But, ironically, his saber-rattling around trade policy led to the renegotiation of NAFTA and – following pressure from the US’ AFL-CIO during those negotiations – a landmark labour reform in Mexico which saw significant strengthening of independent trade unions there. This means more leverage for Mexican workers campaigning for better pay and conditions as well as reduced risk of US-based employers shifting – or threatening to shift – production to Mexico to take advantage of lower wages and labour standards.
In fact, Mexico’s trade unions played an important political role through the 20th century. But, in an effective one-party state from 1930 to 2000, the vast majority of trade unions in the country, under the umbrella of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, comprised the labour wing of the corporatist government headed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Political support and labour peace were traded for relatively good pay and conditions for those lucky enough to have union jobs.
Powered by a state-owned oil industry, Mexico enjoyed decades of strong economic growth before hitting the skids and experiencing a debt crisis in the 1980s amidst higher interest rates and lower oil prices. The country then took a neoliberal turn, with fiscal austerity combined with deregulation and privatization, culminating with NAFTA coming into force in 1994. Workers’ pay and conditions took a huge hit, and many industrial trade unions degenerated into ‘yellow’ trade unions, representing the interests of employers over workers. Corruption, coercion and ruthless suppression of organizers were rife.
When PRI finally lost the Presidency in 2000 (until 2012), it was to the right-leaning Party of National Action (PAN) headed by former Coca Cola executive Vicente Fox. The trade unions lost their privileged place as power brokers with the end of the corporatist regime. However, space slowly opened up for those campaigning for independent trade unions to represent workers’ interests. There was modest progress with a 2012 labour reform leading to improvements in union transparency and accountability. But, employers – and employer-dominated unions – still held the whip hand.
With NAFTA’s successor – the USMCA – due to come into force in 2020, and Mexico now led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), arguably the country’s first left-wing President, the stage was set for the 2019 labour reform. A pre-condition of the USMCA, the reform enshrined in law free affiliation and participation within trade unions, federations, or confederations. Meanwhile, union votes would now be carried out on democratic principles. For the first time Mexican trade unionists would be guaranteed the basic organizing rights that we have long taken for granted in Ireland.
For its part, the labour chapter of the USMCA also includes an innovative “Rapid Response Mechanism”. This is a streamlined dispute settlement mechanism that helps ensure workers’ free association and collective bargaining rights at workplace level. If a Mexican factory is suspected of failing to comply with Mexican labor legislation, the US and Canada can suspend preferential tariff treatment of the facility’s exports within 120 days unless remedial action is taken. By mid-2023, the mechanism had already been invoked at least a half dozen times.
Already, Mexican workers have recorded important wins under the new regime. Independent trade unions have gained footholds in manufacturing plants, winning recognition and better pay and conditions for their members. Recent reforms represent important progress for trade unionism in Mexico, but much work remains.
Employer-aligned trade unions still predominate in many workplaces and they are adapting their tactics to the new legal regime so as to bolster their position. For the independent trade union movement to consolidate and grow, it will need resources for mass recruitment. An important challenge will be to learn to operate strategically at sectoral and national levels, building on successes in individual workplaces. And, it will need to ensure hard-won autonomy is not eroded by neo-corporatism. Continued international solidarity will be crucial to success on the long road ahead.
vicduggan 