A union protest in favor of the vacation reform, this Thursday. Mario Jasso
Rarely in the polarized Mexican politics, all the parties agreed on something: the need to double vacation days, after half a century without changes.
However, the processing of the reform to the Federal Labor Law has been anything but calm.
The 35 days that elapsed between its approval in the Senate and the vote this Thursday in the Chamber of Deputies have been full of lobbying by businessmen and unexpected twists.
The right to 12 continuous days of rest was the center of a tug of war.
The elimination of this prerogative during its discussion in commissions, a victory for the businessmen, led to a conflict within Morena that almost did not derail a reform that seemed inevitable.
The opinion approved unanimously in the Chamber of Senators on November 3 extended vacations from six to 12 days from the first year of work and forced them to be taken continuously.
Quickly, the businessmen mobilized to try to soften some of the changes with a view to their vote in the Chamber of Deputies.
Sources close to the negotiation comment that the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), the main employers' association chaired by Francisco Cervantes, took the lead and that in the Palacio de San Lázaro they were more "receptive" to the concerns of the private initiative than in the Senate.
The leader of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), José Abugaber, affirms that at first the vote in the Senate took the union by surprise, but after the initial impression they sought spaces for debate with the deputies to modify the opinion.
"We did very strong legislative work to be heard and that made [legislators] aware," he says in an interview with this newspaper.
According to the analysis of this organization, the economic impact of the increase in vacations was between 2% and 3% on the cost of the companies' annual payroll.
In mid-November, when it seemed that the Chamber of Deputies was going to vote on the reform as it had been sent by the Senate, the powerful coordinator of Morena, Ignacio Mier, called for a "review" to meet some demands from the private sector.
The president of the Labor Commission, the morenista Manuel Baldenebro, then began to cook a modification with the help of camera technicians.
The deputy acknowledges that in recent weeks he has spoken with "all" the main business organizations, something that he considers natural given his work as a legislator, although he rules out that there was pressure.
"My phone number is public," he says in an interview.
“There is no pressure.
We are used to this."
On Monday, the day before the Commission meeting, Baldenebro shared the proposal with his colleagues: six days would be continuous and the distribution of the rest would have to be negotiated between the employee and the employer.
He justified the change by the impact that the 12 continuous days he could have on small and medium-sized companies, unable to replace workers who went on vacation for two weeks.
The proposal took other morenistas by surprise.
"I cannot knock on the door of 500 deputies," he defends himself.
Despite being secretary of the commission, labor lawyer Susana Prieto assures that she was not consulted.
The business sector savored that momentary triumph.
“It is good that the legislators have listened to part of the concerns of the industry, that 12 days in a row represented a very strong production problem, both for the worker and for the company, because the truth is, some workers tell me what I am going to do with 12 days”, Abugaber pointed out to this newspaper, before the script took another unexpected turn.
The discussion in the Work Commission was tense.
Prieto accused Baldenebro, who was sitting next to him, of showing "total ignorance of employer-employee relations."
“They are going to force the worker to go to the boss to ask for the days.
If he asks you to give it to him in July because his son is graduating.
The employer could refuse saying 'in the law it says that we have to agree'.
The boss is the boss here ”, he charged hard.
Despite the criticism, only two deputies from Morena and another from the PRD opposed the bill.
Two representatives of Movimiento Ciudadano abstained.
The rest, including 11 morenistas, voted in favor.
But the confrontation did not stop there.
After the meeting, Prieto went to speak with the coordinator Mier to express his indignation and told him that he would present a reservation to return to the 12 continuous days approved by the Senate.
The deputy herself told this newspaper that she hoped to get the support of more party colleagues to overthrow the opinion of the Labor Commission.
“There is a division in Morena, because we are not sheep.
We are thinking beings, ”she told this newspaper.
The opposition of the critical morenistas obtained the support of their colleagues in the Senate.
Senator Ricardo Monreal warned that they would not accept "regressions" regarding what was voted in the Upper House.
Hours before the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the business sector saw how the elimination of the 12 continuous days got out of hand.
Prieto and Baldenebro buried the hatchet and announced that an agreement had been reached.
The 12 days would once again be continuous, as was proposed in the Senate, but the worker would have the flexibility to decide if he wanted them that way or if he preferred to divide them, without the need to negotiate with the employer.
Excited, Prieto went up to the rostrum on Thursday to celebrate: "If I hadn't held on, we would have made a big mistake for the working class."
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