Within the points addressed by the Reform to the Federal Labor Law (hereinafter “FLL”) that came into effect on May 1, 2019, various guidelines were established to monitor and enforce trade union freedom and democracy.
Among these modifications, Trade Unions holding Collective Bargaining Agreements (hereinafter “CBA”) were required, within a period not exceeding four years from the entry into force of the reform, to submit to a vote of the employees to determine whether the CBA had their support or not. This process is called the “Legitimization of Collective Bargaining Agreements,” and the Federal Conciliation and Registry Center for Labor Matters (hereinafter “CFCRL”) oversees its surveillance and registration.
According to the provisions of the reform, this four-year period was expected to end on May 1, 2023, or so it seemed.
On March 6, 2023, the “AGREEMENT announcing the deadline for the registration and resolution of existing collective bargaining agreement legitimization procedures” was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. It states that the deadline of this coming May 1st will apply for the registration of requests for consultation on a CBA. However, the deadline for the resolution of the consultations is July 31, 2023.
As a result of this, the CFCRL has stated that those CBAs that are not registered or have not submitted their request for consultation by May 1st will be considered concluded.
Official figures from the CFCRL itself indicate that only 11% of existing CBAs in Mexico have been subjected to a vote. If this trend continues, we will see approximately one hundred thousand CBAs automatically concluded in less than 70 days.
If you have any doubts about the status of your company’s CBA, as well as the steps to follow as an employer in this situation, do not hesitate to contact the labor area team at Vega, Guerrero & Asociados.
