• ELECTIONS: Despite new regulations to make Mexico’s unions more democratic, elections within the powerful oil workers union will have to wait until at least 2024 when the remaining term of ousted union boss Carlos Romero Deschamps formally comes to an end.
• INVESTIGATION: Under the 2019 labor reform, all collective agreements in Mexico would have to be reviewed and new elections would have to take place within a relatively short period of time. Given that Romero Deschamps resigned, the remaining time in his term will be filled by a close associate of his.
• VOTE: “It is up to the workers to decide who wants to represent them … it is not the Government that has to say who is the leader (within the union), who is strengthened and who is weakened”, Mexico’s Labor Minister, Luisa María Alcalde, talking about the different phases of the reform.
• MEMBERSHIP: According to official data, Pemex had around 128,000 active workers in 2018. Romero Deschamps exit occurs after 26 years leading the union. The longtime union boss decided to resign after a Mexican Government’s leak indicated his bank accounts were under investigation.
