Once the Labor Reform was approved in general and in particular before the Senate, the industrialists of Nuevo Leon were forced to analyze the implications and challenges that it will bring with it; both for the companies and for the country, through the forum entitled "Challenges of the New Labor Environment".

Last Friday, May 17, CAINTRA held a forum in front of more than 750 attendees, with the purpose of informing businessmen, Labor Relations and Human Resources executives about the implications of the Labor Reform, its implementation challenges and the experiences of freedom of association in other countries.

The event was divided into 4 panels, covering different scenarios and featuring distinguished speakers.

The first was presented by the President of the Labor Commission of CONCAMIN, Octavio Carvajal Bustamante, and the Vice President of Social Security of COCAMIN, Ricardo Martinez Rojas, referring to the labor environment from an international point of view.

The second presented the experiences of Latin American countries in the face of trade union liberalization, taking as a reference the cases of Argentina with its representative Mr. Horacio Las Heras, Colombia with Mr. Iván Quintero Martínez and Peru with Mr. Carlos Cadillo Ángeles.

It was of utmost importance that business leaders from Nuevo Leon could not only analyze the labor fields at the national level, but also at the international level, thus having the opportunity to compare and have visibility of the positive and negative effects of a labor reform with such a system.

The third panel addressed the Union perspective of the Reform, where the challenges and consequences were exposed, among them the freedom for the worker to choose a union, as well as providing greater stability to employees and protecting collective bargaining.

CAINTRA spoke with the Secretary General of the Nuevo León CTM, Ismael Flores Cantú, who was also one of the speakers in this third panel.

He emphasized that today the union organizations and the companies have labor stability, as a result of the code that governs them, but it will be inevitable and it is evident that, when a new code is introduced, it will cause instability, especially among the workers who will tend to demand more than the established percentages. On the other hand, the desire of some agencies to achieve generalized discontent by promising what they could not fulfill either, in terms of salary increases for their workers.

"The organizations must understand that they must work with a social sense, so that they can help the workers, one thing is the matter of the collective contract and another is to seek the economic improvement that is made annually".

Ismael Flores Cantú Secretario General de la CTM

Finally, the challenges of implementing the New Labor Reform in companies were discussed by CEMEX's Director of Labor Relations, Mr. Hugo Araiza Vázquez, and Arca Continental's Legal Counsel, Mr. Antonio Guerra.

There is concern on the part of the agencies, since the SMEs could end up with judgments because they are unable to resolve disputes due to their smaller structure, as well as dismissals by the leaders.

Let us recall that the laws that were modified and by which it was possible to move forward in the approval of the Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada (T-MEC) were the following:

• Ley Federal del Trabajo. • Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial de la Federación. • Ley Federal de Defensoría Pública. • Ley del Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores. • Ley del Seguro Social.

Among those attending the event was the Delegate of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in Nuevo León, Ricardo Canavati Hadjópulos, who stated the following:

"It is an issue that had been quiet for a long time, but it is worthwhile to take it up again, it is important for us to see the workers of all the companies that are here, that the employers are aware of it.

To conclude the event, CAINTRA's President, Mr. Adrian Sada Cueva made the following recommendations to all the executives and entrepreneurs present:

• Acérquense y asóciense a CAINTRA ya que estaremos asesorando de manera activa a nuestros asociados en esta transición. Tendremos una serie de talleres muy prácticos y a nuestra área legal apoyándolos continuamente. • Sigan informándose sobre las implicaciones de la nueva ley y lo que significa para ustedes y sus trabajadores, esto para desarrollar las acciones y cambios necesarios en su empresa. • Intensifiquen la comunicación y colaboración positiva con sus trabajadores para generar un ambiente positivo para sus empresas que permita dar mayor seguridad de las fuentes de trabajo actuales y futuras en la empresa.

"I have no doubt that Mexico is a country with great opportunities for development, let's do an orderly and intelligent job to transition to a new labor scheme without any problems".

Lic. Adrián Sada Cueva Presidente de CAINTRA

Afterwards, a press conference was held, in which the Vice President of Coparmex, Oscar Martínez Treviño, highlighted that in Nuevo León around 75% of labor conflicts are conciliated without going to trial, therefore, the companies of the entity will have to strengthen the areas of Human Resources, make an approaching work with the workers and generate greater productivity.

"I thought the event was excellent, and I believe that they should continue to hold them for the benefit of both the employer and the workers".

Ricardo Salinas Consultor Laboral

"I think it is very pertinent that they hold this type of event, to know the opinion of both the employer and union sectors, apart from the fact that the exhibitors gave very useful advice on how to have a good relationship with our workers."

Luis Fernando Ibarra Financial

"Even though I was already aware of the changes that have been made, the forum helped me clarify doubts that had arisen, and the experiences presented from the other countries were very interesting."

Javier González Viakable Operaciones