Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Mexico (Ratification: 1950)

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. In its previous comment, the Committee expressed the firm hope that it would be able to note progress in relation to the following amendments, which it had been requesting for many years: (i) section 99(II) of the Federal Act on State Employees (LFTSE), which establishes the requirement of two thirds of the workers in the public body concerned to call a strike; (ii) section 94, Title 4, of the LFTSE, and section 5 of the Act issuing regulations under article 123(B)(XIIIbis) of the Constitution, which restrict the right to strike of certain state employees solely to situations involving a general and systematic violation of their rights; and (iii) the Railway Regulations Act, the National Vehicle Registration Act, the General Channels of Communication Act and the internal regulations of the Ministry of Communications and Transport, which provide for the possibility of requisitioning staff in the event that the national economy may be affected. The Committee regrets to note that the Government has confined itself to referring to the wording of article 123(B)(X) of the Constitution, which provides that workers may avail themselves of the right to strike after complying with the requirements set out in the law, where the rights accorded to them by this Article are subject to general and systematic violation. The Committee also notes that the National Federation of Workers (UNT) asserts in its observations that, in practice, these sections of the LFTSE nullify the right to strike of the public officials covered by this system. The Committee firmly urges the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the provisions referred to above with a view to ensuring that workers who are not exercising authority in the name of the State are able to exercise the right to strike, in accordance with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard.

Unjustified strike action. The Committee notes that, under the terms of section 446 of the Federal Labour Act, a justified strike is “a strike for which the reasons are attributable to the employer”. It also notes that section 444 of the Federal Labour Act defines a “legally existing strike” as one that “meets the requirements and pursues the objectives set out in section 450”, which does not refer to issues of economic and social policy. However, section 445 of the Federal Labour Act provides that a strike is unlawful “when the majority of strikers engage in acts of violence against persons or property” or “in the event of war, when the workers are in establishments or services that are dependant on the Government”. In this regard, the Committee recalls that strikes relating to the Government’s economic and social policies, including general strikes, are legitimate and therefore should not be regarded as purely political strikes, which are not covered by the principles of the Convention. In its view, trade unions and employers’ organizations responsible for defending socio-economic and occupational interests should be able to use, respectively, strike action or protest action to support their position in the search for solutions to problems posed by major social and economic policy trends which have a direct impact on their members (General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 124). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the effect given in practice to sections 444, 445, 446 and 450 of the Federal Labour Act, and to indicate in particular whether workers are able to exercise their right to strike in defence of their occupational and economic interests, which relate not only to improvements in labour conditions or collective occupational claims, but also to solutions for economic and social policy issues.