Don’t trust the experts: the “reforms”
It’s no wonder the political left doesn’t trust the Peña Nieto “reforms”… what is a wonder is why anyone else does, given the results of the latest round of “opening” the social system (i.e., screwing the workers and opening the nations coffers to foreign investors).
Via SDP Noticias (my translation, literally laced with snark):
Although it was assumed (by the neo-conservatives and foreign cheerleaders like The Economist) that last year’s labor “reforms” would lift Mexico thirty whole points in the “World Economics Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013” over last year’s listing in the annual ranking of 144 national economies, instead the “reforms” have caused Mexico to slip 11 places.
The labor “reforms” were passed under the Calderón Administration, are part of the same various package of “economic reforms” picked up by the Peña Nieto administration (which has a better chance of passing them, simply because it has better control over the legislative process than the hapless, drug-war obsessed Calderonistas did). Supposedly, by slashing the already barely adequate wages of Mexican workers, and making it easier to fire workers as well as weakening unions and allowing employers to “outsource” jobs, Mexico would rise in “efficiency” to the standards of those paragons of labor abuse Brazil, India, and Indonesia.
Manuel Molando, of the ” Instituto Mexicano para la Competividad (IMCO)” whines that the situation would change IF labor UNION “reforms” were implemented.
What we expected was complete reform the labor market. We thought there would be a breakthrough , but the reality is that we didn’t get the comprehensive reform we wanted. …
What we have so far is an incomplete reform… we have to enter the union issue
I suppose Mexico could go way up in “competitiveness” if it did like the Chinese, and just did away with all labor rights and outsourced convicts prisoners to “free enterprise” . Any wonder school teachers having to work in building with dirt floors and no electricity and sent textbooks full of misspellings sort of resent being blamed for the poor showing of Mexican education, and the drive to de-legitimize their unions through false media presentations of the issues, or why workers and taxpayers don’t quite cotton on to the idea of paying higher taxes so that PEMEX can contract out some tasks to foreign companies and contribute less to the national treasury (and more to foreign investors)?
Oddly enough, just a couple of weeks ago, The Economist was suggesting that the biggest reform Mexico needed was a larger domestic economy. Which means, paying workers enough to buy stuff, and that doesn’t mean competing for the booby prize in worker’s rights.
World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013
The Mex Files 