Outsourcing negotiations / Pushes again for salary cap

Dialogue continues on outsourcing. Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that he would ask Congress to wait on his proposed outsourcing initiative so that it can be resolved through dialogue between businesspeople and the government. The goal is to reach an agreement that benefits both parties. Luisa María Alcalde, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, announced that the initiative would be held back until February 2021. If an agreement is reached, there will be a 30-day term to settle the points for approval. On this last point, Carlos Salazar, Head of the Business Coordinating Council, said, “the new proposal to regulate outsourcing will be much better than the one originally presented; it is a subject that has been highly reviewed and discussed and with all this, we will reach very favorable conclusions.”

The outsourcing initiative was first presented in November. The plan called for the elimination of outsourcing by companies to give employees more security when it comes to their job.

Minimum wage increase. After reviewing statistics comparing the average minimum wage in Mexico to other countries in Latin America, the president said that Mexico last-place ranking is an embarrassment and that something should be done about that. This is not the first time the president has made this comparison. A few months ago, he mentioned that the fact that Mexico's minimum wage is lower than that in China is unacceptable.

No opposition in the government. During today’s daily briefing, AMLO addressed fears that he was against having a strong opposition, which he said was not the case. In fact, he said that the governors of the Federalist Alliance, for example, and him have their differences but that no one will rule from blackmail. “The truth is that we do not have a very strong opposition. In addition, the conservatives have acted peacefully, there has been no violence, so there is nothing to fear. There must be an opposition because without it would be a dictatorship.”

Salary cap for top officials. President López Obrador said a new initiative would put a limit on the salaries of top public officials. According to the president, this is relevant because there are still people who are making up to MX$700,000 monthly. This is the second time the president has tried to put a cap on government salaries. The previous initiative failed after it was challenged in court by opposition political parties.

-----

Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish

https://www.gob.mx/presidencia/articulos/version-estenografica-conferencia-de-prensa-del-presidente-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-del-9-de-diciembre-de-2020?idiom=es