Mexico: delayed compliance with USMCA-related working conditions is causing concern in economic quarters

With the 01 July entry into force of the USMCA looming, (the new trade related United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), the issue of compliance with working conditions in Mexican factories is becoming increasingly urgent on both sides of the border. As the US udnergoes a rise in protectionism and with US Presidential electoral tactics feeding this dynamic, Mexican economic sectors fear that labor law issues could become a costly ‘Achilles heel’, and that the many delays in implementing labor reform, particularly in terms of freedom of association could be used by the United States to block Mexican exports.
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Labor reform lagging. Amid a period of fiscal austerity coupled with the economic and health crisis, Mexico’s ambitious labor reform, which in 2019 enshrined freedom of association and included thorough modernization of labor justice (c.f. article No.11009), is indeed struggling to materialize. The establishment of the new Labor Courts, set to replace the former Juntas de Conciliación, has been postponed until October. Another worry is the delay in legitimizing collective agreements, while...

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