Thread by @KurtHackbarth

1. The Mexican Congress has overwhelmingly approved #AMLO's Anti-#Outsourcing law, which bans the practice for permanent or essential functions of a business or organization.

The law largely rolls back a 2012 labor 'reform' which opened the door to it.
jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/04/…

2. In addition to fueling a crisis of precarious work in an economy already massively dependent on "informal," no-benefits employment, the outsourcing boom of the last decade has cost the Mexican treasury an estimated $500 billion ($25 billion US) a year.

infobae.com/america/mexico…

3. Beyond the labor abuses, it also became an open door to crime. The so-called "King of Outsourcing," Raúl Beyruti, allegedly set up a network of 92 outsourcing shell companies to defraud the government.

In February, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

proceso.com.mx/nacional/justi…

4. But as is so often the case, the devil is in the details: the Labor Secretary will have the authority to define which tasks are "specialized" and subject to outsourcing. A broad definition by this or future secretaries would seriously dilute the law.

5. And this, finally, is the problem with regulating outsourcing instead of the Occam's-razor solution of eliminating it altogether. It is to be noted that, in addition to cross-party support, AMLO also got business to come on board.

A step, though, in the right direction.