Labor Reforms

Dave found this picture on a website about crazy "fixes" that people do. He was shocked, until a few key points showed us that the picture was from Mexico - the Spanish sign on the side is advertising the power company (no joke) and there is a Mexican juice bottle on the top of the sign. Once we knew it was a Mexican picture, we were not surprised at all - just amused!

A few months ago I posted about Mexico's light and power industry, which is a shambles. This picture helps to reinforce that idea. :)

In general, Mexico's labor force is a mess. Those groups, like teachers & electricians, that are lucky enough to have a union, can often be paid decently high Mexican wages regardless of the amount of work performed or the quality of work performed. (As a teacher and electrical engineer, we know how hard those employees could be working, and we can see how little they are actually working here.) Mexicans with working contracts often get paid per day, rather than per hour, so sometimes they will work only 4 hours. I suppose that "salarymen" - that's a Japanese term that roughly translates to "white collar" - in the U.S. often are at work for 10 hours but spend half of that time on the internet or around the water cooler, and those U.S. employees are getting paid a lot more. Maybe I should reserve judgment ;)

Check out this article on THE NEWS, Mexico's English-language newspaper, about labor reforms:
http://thenews.com.mx/articulo/labor-reform-unlikely-soon-10119