Announcement for Mexico Awareness Raising Project

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, announces the availability of approximately $10,000,000.00 (subject to the availability of federal funds) for one cooperative agreement to implement a project to increase awareness of the Mexican labor justice reform among workers, employers, and union leaders. The project will aim to achieve the following outcomes in priority sectors: 1) increase understanding by workers, employers, and union leaders on how to utilize Mexico’s new labor systems to protect labor rights and effectively address labor disputes; and 2) build the capacity of the federal and state level Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (Secretaría de Trabajo y Prevención Social or STPS) staff and constituents from key institutions to conduct outreach regarding labor rights and implementation of the labor reforms among target audiences. Mexico enacted constitutional reforms in 2017 to transform its labor justice system by increasing transparency and impartiality to better address violations of labor rights, such as freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. The President of Mexico signed into law in 2019 and published in the National Gazette the necessary legislation to amend the Federal Labor Law and fully implement the 2017 constitutional reforms. The law fulfills commitments made by Mexico in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The USMCA’s labor chapter includes an Annex (“Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico”) under which Mexico committed to enact specific legislative actions to provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.