Mexico: public trade union registry put in place to promote trade union transparency

Commencing 03 November, the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registry is putting the National Public Registry of Trade Unions in place, which will offer free access to documents originating from Mexican labour organizations. This was one of the promises of the labour reform that was enacted in May 2019, namely the pledge to boost trade union transparency, in a country where distrust of worker advocacy organizations that are frequently linked to political power, is at its highs. The new entity will be managed by the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registry, and replaces the former Juntas de Conciliación (Labour Boards), the responsibilities of which had included the registration of trade union organizations and collective contracts at the national level. Minister of Labour, Luisa María Alcalde praised a “system that makes available all the information concerning the country’s trade union life.” Thousands of collective agreements, internal regulations, acts and statutes from the country’s trade union organizations will be made available to the general public. “The Registry is starting with 173,000 files, but hundreds of thousands of documents are still being digitized,” the Minister stated, emphasizing the “importance of this new transparency” for “better workers’ rights in the future.”