Workers' Day: Sheinbaum Signs Phased 40-Hour Workweek Agreement, Names New Agriculture Secretary Columba López, Announces Private Investment Simplification

On May 1, 2026 — International Workers' Day — President Claudia Sheinbaum held a 'People's Mañanera' at the Centro Cultural del México Contemporáneo in Mexico City's historic center, flanked by labor union leaders representing millions of workers. She highlighted the administration's labor advances since 2018: a 154% minimum wage increase (from 88 to 315 pesos/day), elimination of outsourcing abuses, and IMSS social security extended to gig workers. In the centerpiece announcement, Sheinbaum formally signed an agreement establishing a phased transition to a 40-hour workweek — the implementation mechanism for the constitutional reform passed by Congress. The schedule: 48 hours (current, 2026) → 46 hours (2027) → 44 hours (2028) → 42 hours (2029) → 40 hours (2030), affecting approximately 14 million formal workers, with no salary or benefit reductions permitted. Union leaders who attended expressed support while also calling for continued progress on remaining labor demands, including CNTE's push for 100% salary increases and ISSSTE pension reform. In a cabinet reshuffle, Sheinbaum named agronomist Columba Jasmin López as the new Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), replacing Julio Berdegué. Bloomberg reported Sheinbaum also announced upcoming measures to boost private investment through 'radical simplification' of bureaucratic and regulatory procedures, framing it as making Mexico more competitive for the USMCA-era nearshoring moment. On oil: with crude at approximately $120/barrel globally, Sheinbaum noted the government was maintaining pump prices below 24 pesos/liter — prices that would be 30+ pesos without government intervention. On the Sinaloa/DOJ sovereignty crisis, Sheinbaum was brief but firm: 'There is a principle called sovereignty, and that isn't negotiated.' Large Workers' Day marches of up to 10,000 participants converged from the Angel of Independence to the Zócalo.