The labour courts

According to the Mexican labour law, workers in specified industries fall under the jurisdiction either of the Juntas Locales de Conciliación y Arbitrage or of the Junta Federal de Conciliación y Arbitraje. This is not a two-tiered system; there are two separate labour court systems, the local and the federal. There are a number of differences in the operation of the two systems, of which the principal is that the local Juntas appear to be much more open to political pressure from the state Governors and local political forces.

Generally speaking, the industries which are of national importance, such as railways, steel, textiles, etc. fall under federal jurisdiction. In 1975 the automobile assembly industry was transferred from local to federal jurisdiction. Since federal records are centralized in Mexico City whereas local records are not, this makes data collection considerably easier and the federal records only were consulted. This meant that the universe of cases was considerably reduced, and clearly any thorough study would have to utilize the records of the local Juntas as well.

The labour courts have three judges. These judges are supposed to represent the interests of capital, of labour and of the government. The representatives of labour and of capital are designated by trade unions and employers' associations, and the representative of government is, of course, a functionary of the Ministry of Labour.