As the Constitutionalist party, when it roses arms against the Diaz government, proclaimed the rights of the Mexican people to golfer themselves in a direct and democratic mane and demanded the immediate solution of agricultural questions facing the nation, claiming, at the same time, the rights of die masses, naturally these reforms find a prom nent place in the changes made in the consnm don by the convention of 1917. These are rad ical and far-reaching. The new labor laws pro vide for an eight-hour day with six days la}er a week; while night work is restricted to sera hours and when it is of a dangerous and le healthy character, it is altogether prohibizi for women and children under 16 years z age, while children under 12 may not be an ployed in any contract work. Commercial establishments may not work their employee after 10 P.M.; and children between 12 and it must not be worked for more than six hoes a day. Women shall not be required to de hard labor for three months before childbirtl and they may not work for one month afir. but they shall be paid for this month and the shall retain their positions and all the Tighe' of their contracts. They shall also be allowe• two rest periods each day during the tine they are nursing. The minimum salary r every district of the country shall be sods to provide for the necessities of life, the edu cation of children and honest amusements. all farming, commercial, manufacturing IrK mining enterprises the employees have its to participate in the profits of the btrl ness, and the percentage of such participatnc shall be fixed, in each community, by a com mission acting under the central commissa of conciliation which, by law, is established each state. There shall be no distinction r salary by reason of sex or nationality, for :17 same work. Farming, mining and companies must provide, outside the larger towns, proper sanitary markets, hospitals and other convenience neceSsary to the life of the community, and when the employees number 200 and recreation grounds shall be pro. vided within which no ,intoosicating shall be sold nor gambling permitted. Ern., ployees may lawfully form oombisrations to protect their interests and the right to strike and to close down is recognized. The work men must, however, give 10 days' notice to the Commission of Conciliation and before striking, and they are not allowed to use violence of any kind in ,the attempt to, enforce their demands. An exception to this
rule is, however, made in the case of govern ment employees in ammunition factories, which are under the authority of the army and thus subject to military discipline. A complete close-down shall be legal only when the excess of production makes suspension of work neces-, sary to maintain prices at a reasonable rate, but approval for such close-down must first obtained from the Committee on Conciliation and Arbitration, which shall be formed of an equal number of representatives of capital and labor together with one additional member rep-, resenting the government. Any employer re fusing to submit his case to the commission en to abide by its decision forfeits all right contracts already made with his employees and becomes obligated to pay them three months' salary. Should the workmen refuse the offer of the commission their contracts automatically 'become void. An employer who discharges an employee because he has joined a. union or taken part in a legal strike or without any just cause shall be obliged, at the option of the workman, to pay three months' salary or to' continue the contract. The law provides for free municipal employment bureaus and stipu lates that, when a Mexican workman contracts to go to work outside Mexico, the , contract thus made must be approved by the municipal authorities and visaed by the consul of the country to which he is about • to go, and one of its provisions shall be that the employer must provide the means for the return of the workman .to his native land. No of a salary may be retained as a fine, as was merly the case; no salaries may be paid In saloon or place of amusement, and no work, man may renounce his rights to indemnity for accident. No labor contract can be for more than one year, and in such contracts the laborer cannot renounce any of the rights guaranteed him by law. The only redress for the viola tion of a contract on the part of the employer or employee is a civil action.
Consult Coronado, M., de derecho constitucional mexicano> (2d ed., Guadalajara 1899); Dodd, W. E, (Modern Constitutions) (Chicago 1909) ; Gamboa, J. M., (Leyes constitucionales de Mexico durante el siglo XIX) (Mexico 1901) • Granados, • R. Garcia, (La constitution de 1857 y las leyes de reforma en Mexico) (Mexico 1906); Pan, American Bulletin (issues of 1917-19, Wash ington, D. C.) • Wheless, J., of the Laws of Mexico) (2 vols., Saint Louis 1910).