Initiative to increase vacations for workers in Mexico advances

Congressional Commission approves more vacation days in Mexico 3:32

(CNN Spanish) --

The Labor and Social Welfare Commission of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved on Tuesday an opinion that reforms articles 76 and 78 of the Federal Labor Law on vacations.

The bill, which was endorsed by the Mexican Senate on November 3, has a change with respect to what was sent by the Upper House: although the number of vacation days to which a worker will be entitled from the first year worked -from six to 12 days-, these cannot be continuous: six will be followed and the rest granted by means of an agreement between the worker and the employer.

The initiative was sent to the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies to be voted on in the legislative plenary session on a date to be defined.

If approved, it must be sent back to the Senate for eventual approval and forwarded to the Executive branch for promulgation.

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In a statement, the president of the Labor Commission, Manuel Baldenebro Arredondo, said that granting workers 12 days of vacation continuously would be unfavorable both for the employees and for the companies where they work.

"It limits the possibilities that employers and workers agree to defer these days so that they are distributed as best suits both parties and used freely, according to their needs," said Baldenebro.

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The initiative has faced obstacles to be approved

A sector of the private initiative has shown reluctance to extend the vacation period because it considers that the cost for companies would increase, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, for which reason it requested that the reform be implemented in a phased manner: that they be granted nine days of vacation in 2023, and 12 days from 2024.

The Employers' Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) said in a statement on November 17 that they were in favor of the vacation reform but that legislators should be careful that this change is applied gradually.

“We also propose that the period of uninterrupted enjoyment of the vacations stays at six days and six days, and does not go up to 12 in a single exhibition.

This is impractical for all companies and even for the workers themselves,” Coparmex added.

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This reform is one of the ones that has generated the most expectations this year, since in Mexico the number of vacation days has not changed since 1970. In fact, Mexico is the country of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). where more hours are worked per year (2,124), when the average among the nations that make up the organization is 1,687.

The deputy of the Movimiento Ciudadano party, Sergio Barrera, told CNN that this proposal seeks to avoid stress and exhaustion at work, as well as improve the quality of life of workers.

"With all the studies that we have done, the benefit that this also entails for companies in terms of competitiveness and productivity that a worker who has mental health, who is rested and who, above all, can be happier, can generate. to their work and that they can perform in a better way,” said Barrera.