Mexico City.- The Labor Party (PT) in the Chamber of Deputies announced that it will present a new initiative to reduce the working day from 48 to 40 hours per week, which will not contemplate the possibility of a gradual implementation, as employers have requested.
The announcement comes after President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the implementation of the 40-hour work week as one of her Government commitments.
Although in her speech on October 1 in the capital’s Zócalo, the federal president indicated that the implementation of the measure would be gradual, the parliamentary coordinator of the PT, Reginaldo Sandoval, pointed out that this possibility is not considered in his proposal. “For us it is not about the issue of gradualness, for us it is about the definitive issue, without the concept of gradualness, because it does not make sense to follow that logic,” he considered.
Sandoval explained that in the last Legislature, the proposal presented by former Morenista Susana Prieto made great progress, but was finally discarded – which caused the legislator to resign – hence it is necessary to present a new initiative.
The bench’s proposal reforms Article 123 of the Constitution to establish that, in general, every employment contract must establish that for every five days of work, the operator must enjoy at least two days of rest. The explanatory memorandum indicates that although Mexico records more working hours than other countries, hourly productivity is low, suggesting the need to improve training, innovation and technology policies to increase productivity without depending on long working hours. The document also establishes that a long work day can negatively affect the well-being of workers and internal consumption. “A greater number of hours worked can negatively affect the well-being of workers, which in the long term can reduce internal consumption, because individuals have less time and energy for leisure and spending on recreational activities,” he says. The proposal recognizes that in April 2023, the San Lázaro Constitutional Points Commission approved a project to reform constitutional 123 regarding the reduction of working hours, but the proposal did not prosper because it encountered resistance in certain business sectors, who They argue that an abrupt reduction could affect the productivity and competitiveness of companies, especially small and medium-sized ones. In this regard, the bench assures that although the implementation of a reform in this sense would face important challenges, it would mark a milestone in working life. “Although it faces significant challenges, especially in terms of implementation and adaptation by companies, the long-term benefits in terms of productivity, worker well-being and alignment with international trends are significant, in addition to being in line with the commitment number 60 of the President of the Republic, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo,” he states.
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