As with every transformation, the labor reform of 2017 will come with its fair share of naysayers, but there is no way around it: this radical conversion of the labor justice system is the best thing to happen to Mexico, commerce and business over all.
For reader’s sake a little bit of history must be shared in order to understand why labor disputes in Mexico are not a part of the traditional justice system. Much like in the U.S, per the separation of powers the authority to decide cases and controversies is vested in the Judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court and inferior courts established by the Constitution on both Federal and State levels. For one hundred years all matters including financial, governmental, regulatory or any other associated to the administration of justice has been controlled by this Judicial power, except for one particular area: Labor disputes.
Due to concrete conditions in Mexico back in 1917, derived from years of civil and revolutionary war, the over all distrust of the justice system that was seen as part of the status quo that favored the wealthy elites, and doubtless, many injustices suffered by the en-masse population, there was a necessity to create an alternate three-way system to guarantee justice in regards with labor and employment matters. The concept of this model meant that controversies where to be voiced not before a judge, but through an arbitration board composed of three agents representing a) the employer b) the employee and c) the government (president of the board), which in the end would resolve all disputes over a majority vote through an informal arbitration procedure. Through this innovative system, all prosecutions where not resolved by one judge but by three agents to maintain fairness and objectivity in regards with the working class. The end result was Labor boards that materially administered justice, but were formally placed under the Executive power both at Federal and State levels.
In today’s circumstances labor boards across the country suffer from insufficient funding from governments to be able to guarantee a correct administration of justice and therefore have become fertile grounds for rampant corruption. Low salaries for employees, not enough personnel, enormous amounts of files in progress and miniature budgets to upkeep buildings have the boards in a state of near abandonment. As far as personnel, there is virtually no training and thereafter plenty of uncertainty for employers and...
