"Heartbeat of Mexico" August 15, 1996
- Labor Officials, Officialist Union Leaders Agree Upon
"Principles"
- Independent Unions, Dissidents Excluded from Pact
- Business Beats Labor
On August 13, governmental labor authorities and officialist union leaders signed a pact entitled "Principles of the New Labor Culture" in the presidential mansion "Los Pinos". The document seeks to establish a new basis for labor-management relations, including greater "respect and cordiality" between workers and bosses, productivity goals, and withdrawal of the state as arbiter of labor conflicts. The document was approved by business leaders such as He'ctor Larios Santilla'n of the Business Coordinating Council (CEE) and Carlos Abascal, head of the Mexican Employers' Confederation (Coparmex); Labor Secretary Javier Bonilla; and the heads of 10 of the 39 unions that form the Labor Congress (CT), with President Ernesto Zedillo as witness. Significantly, independent union leaders and representatives of dissident tendencies within the official union were excluded from the pact. (Reforma, La Jornada, August 14)
The Principles are product of nearly a year of negotiations between government-leaning, "officialist" unions (all affiliated to the Labor Congress), service industry unions (telephone workers, electricians, Social Security workers) and business magnates. However, many service industry unions did not attend the signing ceremony because, according to telephone workers union head Francisco Herna'ndez Jua'rez, they were not consulted concerning the final document. (La Jornada, August 14)
According to the pact, the "new labor culture" emphasizes worker training; more "flexibility" in management-labor relations; ending corruption in unions and governmental authorities; higher salaries and more jobs; and putting an end to corporativist labor practices (collusion between the government, industrial groups and officialist unions) and governmental intervention in labor relations. Criticized in the press as a vague "catalogue of good intentions", the document contains precepts in three fundamental areas: ethics, law and labor practices, and recommends:
- Privileging Cooperation by creating more room for negotiations between labor federations and business owners which would review, among other things, changes in labor legislation "if necessary".
- Raising Salaries: The accord will have a positive impact on wages, say business leaders. In exchange, workers should participate more directly in productivity and improve work habits.
- Non-Intervention by the State in Labor Negotiations: According to Juan S. Milla'n, Education Secretary of the Mexican Labor Congress, salary raises will no longer be negotiated with the central government, but agreed upon in "individual initiatives at the level of businesses and unions to reactivate businesses . . . in a framework of greater competency, which will mean improvements for workers." (Reforma, August 14)
- Growth and Jobs: Greater efficiency, productivity and technology should generate higher economic growth which will, in turn, boost employment rates. In the document's own words, "Investment in human capital and a more efficient allocation of productive resources are essential factor in increasing in productivity and competitiveness." Larios Santilla'n predicts that the accord will generate between 400,000 and 500,000 jobs in 1997. (Reforma, August 14)
- Ending Union Corruption: A key part of this objective is carrying out union elections in a "climate of harmony, respect and democracy".
- Freedom to Organize: The document further states that businesses should, "in recognition of freedom of association, always adhere strictly to the law to avoid illegal confrontations concerning title-holders for collective bargaining agreements" (that is, competition between different unions for the right to represent workers).
- Omissions: The document omits many important points, including specific employment or wage goals and mechanisms to achieve these objectives. Perhaps more significantly, the Labor Congress (CT) opted not to request explicit salary raises, while business leaders roundly rejected the possibility of wage hikes. (Reforma, August 14) The CT claimed that its decision was a measure of "solidarity" with the new labor culture "since it is aware of the difficult economic situation facing the country", according to CT president Vi'ctor Flores Morales.
The document posits profound cultural transformations: substituting confrontation, corruption and bureaucracy with cooperation, legality and efficiency. This implies nothing less than tossing out the window a system in use for more than 60 years, since President La'zaro Ca'rdenas (1934-1940) organized post-revolutionary social relations into negotiations between the worker, peasant, "popular" and military sectors, and the state (a model known as "corporativism"). A series of "client" relationships followed between the government, officialist unions and private enterprise in which agreements on labor law and practice were accorded between the three groups, without pluralistic participation.
The Principles set out a number of (superficially) attractive goals: cooperative management-labor relations, an end to union corruption and corporativism, and enhanced economic performance. Nevertheless, the "new labor culture" heavily favors business interests at the expense of worker rights. Words such as "flexibility" and "productivity" often translate into programs such as job sharing and part-time work (that is, reduced income and loss of benefits), "lateral" transfers at employers' will, substitution of "incentive programs" for decent base salaries, additional work responsibilities without adequate training or remuneration. New collective bargaining practices atomize unions in constricting labor negotiations to businesses and their employees.
Many contradictions surround the agreement:
- The document suggests less state intervention in labor affairs but was negotiated, essentially, between business interests and the Executive Branch, with the complicity of government-leaning unions.
- Agreement signatories promise that they will not modify existing labor legislation (on paper, highly protective of the working class), whereas the agreement specifically subjects present laws to negotiation. Many analysts have observed that the new agreement purports to deregulate labor markets in favor of national and foreign investors.
- Internal conflicts are increasing within the union structure: separation of independent and officialist unions, leadership struggles within unions affiliated to the Labor Congress (CT), and sharp differences between union leadership and rank-and-file. Only 10 of the 39 organizations that belong to the CT attended the signing ceremony, revealing deep differences between the "new-style" officialist union leaders (telephone workers, electricians and others) and the CTM unions allied with nonagenarian Fidel Vela'zquez. Independent unions were completely excluded from the negotiating process.
The "new labor culture", thus, isn't necessarily new and the winners aren't necessarily the laborers.
David Crow
Javier Medina
Fronteras Comunes
e-mail: frontcomunes@laneta.apc.org