For Gerardo Islas, leader of the rising Social Force for Mexico party, there is no turning page: they will be the strongest allies of Mexican workers (both in their country, in Canada and the United States) within the framework of the renewed USMCA, about to complete one year of the renegotiation that improved working conditions in Mexico for the purposes of the agreement.

And it is that at the end of the most recent modifications to the treaty in 2019, businessmen, the specialized press and some politicians such as former President Felipe Calderón disapproved the terms of the labor chapter that, in their opinion, imply a setback and a risk for the competitiveness of Mexico.

However, for the also federal deputy Gerardo Islas, the modifications made to the USMCA, which were approved by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, meant an enormous advance for workers by reducing the wage gap and working conditions that affected the wage earners of their country.

“Our alliance with President López Obrador is one of form and substance, and precisely on this issue we have a major coincidence, since SFM was born to a large extent to promote and protect the labor rights of Mexicans, affected for a long time by an enormous disadvantage that was maintained in the previous versions of the trade agreement that unites us with the US and Canada ”, he stated.

At a time when labor outsourcing is being discussed in Mexico, considered a source of abuse by President López Obrador himself, who is seeking legal reforms to reorder that hiring scheme, Islas stresses that they will be supporting decisions that favor the millions of workers who currently operate with those kinds of contracts.

“We, like the progressive forces of the three countries of the USMCA, have an unshakable trade union vocation. We are convinced that protecting and improving the situation of workers in all of its aspects is one of the great things pending. This false economic competitiveness based on the abuse of labor rights could not and should not be prolonged any more,” he said.

“Last year I expressed it and today, on behalf of the SFM, I reiterate it: The great losers of the modifications promoted by President López Obrador and unions from our neighboring nations are not the Mexican workers, but the transnational companies that disproportionately increased their profits from making the worker situation precarious ”.

The national president of SFM announced that they will maintain close contact with unions and labor organizations in Canada and the United States, as well as with the Mexican communities residing in both countries, especially to reinforce the labor chapter of the USMCA.