Of 139,000 collective contracts in Mexico, unions will ultimately aim to ratify 33,000, or about a quarter, via worker votes, a requirement to keep them active, Labor Minister Luisa Alcalde said on Tuesday, hours after a final deadline.Mexico committed to eliminating these so-called "protection contracts" under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement , a trade pact that replaced the 1994 NAFTA.
"This is historic, because we finally managed to rid the labor market of pretend contracts and fake unions," Labor Minister Alcalde said in an interview. Since the vote process began four years ago, workers have cast ballots on some 20,000 contracts in sectors spanning autos, retail and mining. The remaining 13,000 votes are scheduled through July, although some unions may pull out.
The Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board, a U.S. advisory committee, said in March the small number of rejected contracts "raises serious doubts about the credibility" of the process.vote at a Goodyear tire plant