Work of the future and the right to digital disconnection

“From a general perspective, the regulation of the right to digital disconnection in the work environment would be of interest from a triple point of view: 1) Social, in that it protects the physical and moral protection of the worker; 2) Legal, by imposing limits on the duration of work; and 3) Economic, insofar as the duration of excessive work can have repercussions on the production costs and profits of the company”. Pérez Campo quoted by Rodrigo Monteiro.

The “Right to Digital Disconnection (DDD)” is regulated in Mexico since January 11, 2021 in the Federal Labor Law (LFT), article 330-E section VI where it gives the employer “special obligations” such as “respect the right to disconnect workers in the teleworking modality at the end of the working day”, pointing out the legislators that with this a great leap towards modernity was already made, and that to the best of my knowledge and understanding, we are far from it.

The Right to Digital Disconnection was recently studied at the fourth ordinary session 2022 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at its permanent headquarters in Strasbourg, France. The report citing the DDD was titled “The Future of Work is Here: Revisiting Labor Rights.” The unanimously adopted resolution of PACE highlighted the demand for greater flexibility in the organization of work, to meet the new needs of workers, employers and labor markets, in the face of far-reaching transformations linked to new technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic. Covid-19.

The Assembly expressed concern about the harmful effects of this new reality on people at work, noting many situations of job insecurity, discriminatory practices and an escalation of stress levels at work. Therefore, member states were urged to adjust their regulatory frameworks and labor policies, better protect socioeconomic rights, improve public health and guarantee personal well-being at work.

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It was considered that the governments -Mexico included- should, in particular, facilitate greater recourse to teleworking on a permanent basis, through the adoption of legislative measures that provide equal conditions and maximum flexibility in terms of working hours and location of the place of work. same.
The Assembly also advocated for a better recognition of unpaid work, making it more visible and supporting it through social benefits or a basic income, for the development of public institutional capacities and for the right to disconnect, reason for the title of this column.

In particular, research and evidence was noted that points to a changing work culture with a new generation of workers who value flexible working hours, location and reduced working time much more than their predecessors.

Parliamentarians from the 46 countries that make up PACE and the opinion of Canada and Mexico as observers, pointed out the need to better define “the right to disconnect” through national legislation, as well as at European and international level.

I recommend, dear readers, the article by Rodrigo Monteiro Pessoa “The configuration of the right to digital disconnection from work in Chile and its violation” where he makes a comparative study in countries such as France, Spain, Chile and Mexico of spur (sic) published in the Latin American Journal of Social Law this year, where it mentions, and I subscribe, that the simple appearance of the DDD in the Federal Labor Law (LFT) is not enough to make it an Effective Law.

Since the beginning of the period of health dictatorship decreed by the General Health Council on March 23, 2020, which considered our Mexico a country suffering from a serious priority disease due to COVID-19, and its criminal negligence of not having effectively and timely preparedness and response activities; It made millions of Mexicans take shelter and do “telework” or “home-office”, the vast majority with their own means (telephones, computers, internet, electricity, real estate and home) in order to survive.

This hyper-connectivity has meant that to date, by continuing with the health dictatorship, the family line of work has disappeared. Workers are asked not to “turn off their cell phones”; bosses, clients, supervisors or colleagues send thousands of emails, messages on social networks that they check even if “you received it or left it unseen” and then throw it in your face as a sign of your labor negligence even if it had been at night or early morning. Even the programming of videoconferences where you must take extreme care of the details so that order or disorder is not seen in the privacy of the home. This regardless of whether you are on vacation, leave or outside the agreed schedule, under penalty of being sanctioned or placed on the “black list”.

It is more complicated for women, where they have also been responsible for more than 80% of unpaid care in the home, because by putting them on the blacklist for “not being connected 24 x 7” it is rare for them to rise or be better paid.

I am convinced of making this right to disconnect effective. Not only to those of “telework” indicated by the LFT, but for all workers. I will initiate legislative work by summoning Rodrigo Monteiro and other actors to advance firmly in the coming days.

email: ectorjaime@ugto.mx

Twitter e Instagram: @ectorjaime

FB: @doctorectorjaime

Web: www.ectorjaime.com.mx

* Éctor Jaime Ramírez Barba is a surgeon, specialized in public health, with a doctorate in health sciences and public administration, and is a re-elected deputy of the PAN parliamentary group in the LXV Legislature.