RATIFICATION BY MEXICO OF THE CONVENTION 98 OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION (ILO).

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Ratification by Mexico of the Convention 98 of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

On September 20, 2018, all members of the Senate unanimously ratified the ILO Convention No. 98, adopted in Geneva, Switzerland in 1949, so as to apply the principles of the right to organize and to bargain collectively.

The Convention protects workers’ right against any acts of anti-union discrimination, in particular, acts having the purpose of making the employment of a worker subject to the condition that he/she will not join a union or relinquish trade union membership, thereby granting the workers full power and freedom to elect whether to belong to a union.  This provision also eliminates the practice of using a “closed shop clause” in collective agreements.

Also, the Convention provides that workers’ and employers’ organizations of a particular workplace may not interfere with each other; “interference” being understood as any action aimed to promote the creation of a workers’ organization dominated by the employer or employers’ organizations that financially support another workers’ organization, so as to place such workers’ organizations under the employers’ control.

It further contemplates the obligation to create appropriate and efficient bodies to ensure respect of the right to organize, if necessary.

Non – active collective bargaining agreements will be impacted once the Convention enters into force, since they will be subject to an active and accessible scheme towards its unionized workers.

The Convention will become a part of the Mexican legal system twelve months after being ratified with the ILO.

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Mexico City, October 1^st, 2018