La The labour reform in Mexico: a reconstruction of its negotiation and its practical potentialities

Abstract

The objectives of the present article are to reconstruct the circumstances that gave life to the labour reform in Mexico in 2019 and to analyse how this modification to the law boosts the reconfigurations of labour relations. Based on the theoretical-methodological approach of the Latin American Configurationism, the structural pressures that influenced the negotiation of the law are presented, as well as taking into account how the agents, who had particular perspectives and differentiated positions of power, influenced the definition of its contents. In order to carry out this research, the agreements and treaties that drove the reform were analysed, as well as a historical revision of the most relevant modifications to the labour law was made. This investigation permitted to conclude that even though the reform allows for new counterbalancing forces in the capital-work relation, it does not nullify the shaping of control strategies by the Estate and the employers which are intended to limit the workers’ organization abilities.