101 Years of Union Control in Mexico (1918-2019)

One of the main aims of this book, is to explain the roots and the reasons of the historical low wages and the long-lasting inequality in Mexico, thru the analysis of the mechanisms which have undermined and eliminated collective bargaining and the distribution of income and wealth in this country. To achieve this goal, the author starts from the theories of collective bargaining and union organization, applied to the study of unions in Mexico since the early twentieth century to 2019.Chapter 1, "The historical union control", analyzes how the Mexican oligarchy deliberately destroyed anarchosyndicalism and in general, the ideological and political richness and diversity of the free unions in Mexico, and how this oligarchy imposed models of not free, official unions, controlled by the government thru the corruption and the economic enrichment of the union leaders, among other mechanisms. Instead of free unions, Mexican workers were necessarily affiliated to organizations like the CROM, which were enforced by the government thru the upcoming public institutions of labor: the Mexican Constitution, the Boards of Conciliation and Arbitrations and the Federal Labor Law in 1931. In chapter 1, the reader will also find an innovative and challenging comparative analysis in labor matters between President Roosevelt in the USA and President C rdenas in Mexico. Both Presidents led their countries in the tough years after the 1929 crisis, and the different outcomes between them in labor issues are starkly discussed in this chapter. At the end of the day, the C rdenas administration led to the destruction of collective bargaining and free unions in Mexico. The reader will also find in this chapter a strong analysis about the origins of the "charro" unionism in Mexico and the institutionalization of the corruption among most of the union leaders, as part of the enforcement of union control. Chapter 2 "The contemporary union control", claims that in the early 1960s, the Secretary of Finance took control of wage policy in Mexico, which also undermined collective bargaining. However, the early seventies were an exception, since the Secretary of Labor had an ephemeral autonomy from the finance institutions, and advisedly promoted collective bargaining and other progressive labor policies. Consequently, the highest wage levels in the history of Mexico were reached in early 1976. In response, the Mexican oligarchy deliberately promoted changes to the federal labor law, to further obstruct collective bargaining. These labor changes in the eighties and nineties widespread protection unions in Mexico, also called ghost unions. The author is one of the most recognized analysts of this kind of unions in Mexico, so this chapter offers new thoughts on the matter. Finally, chapter 3 "From union control to criminal non control", updates and analyzes the present situation of unions in Mexico and how most protection or ghost unions, became criminal unions dedicated to activities like extortion, drug dealing and others, with the complicity of the government and top employers. In the last pages, the book suggests why the recent USMCA labor reform in Mexico, might be only a simulation, since real and democratic changes are hindered by the political structure of the union control in Mexico, and predicts that low wages and inequality will remain and prevail for Mexican workers until real and structural labor changes are reached.