The Mexican Senate on Wednesday approved a presidential proposal to reduce the workweek to 40 hours from 48, despite opposition from unions and the opposition.

The text was unanimously approved on first reading, with 121 votes, and was sent to the lower house of the Mexican Congress for discussion and final approval.

After years of debate in Congress and in the private sector, House Speaker Claudia Sheinbaum finally officially introduced a bill in December to implement the 40-hour workweek.

The initiative aims to reduce the working week by two hours per year by 2030 for about 13.4 million workers.

However, opposition politicians and union leaders have called the bill watered down, arguing that it has many legal loopholes and will not actually reduce the burden on workers.

If the bill is approved, the reform will come into effect on May 1, with the first two-hour reduction in hours effective from January 2027.

Mexico ranks highest in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of hours worked – 2,226 per person per year. But it also has the lowest performance in terms of worker productivity and wages among the 38 member states.