On International Labor Day, May 1, hundreds of marches across Guadalajara and Mexico highlighted a key demand: a call to President Claudia Sheinbaum to amend Mexico’s labor laws and reduce the standard workweek from 48 to 40 hours.
As these marches unfolded, Sheinbaum and Labor Minister Marath Baruch Bolaños held a press conference with representatives from leading union groups. In what some commentators called a milestone moment, the president committed to initiating a national dialogue next month, with the goal to gradually implement the reduction over the next five years.
“This can’t be achieved overnight,” admitted Sheinbaum, expressing confidence in achieving consensus among all stakeholders and guarantee across-the-board implementation of the measure by 2030.
Implementing this change, however, involves complex logistics and will require extensive discussions with employers’ associations and unions. These discussions will cover potential adjustments to wages, overtime policies and industry-specific guidelines, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture, where longer hours are most common.
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