Summary
Due to various economic circumstances that our country (Mexico) is currently going through, the Construction Sector has been reduced, this leads to an oversupply in Construction SMEs, which are in need of reducing their operational capacity, using employers labor practices with lack of an ethical axiom, resulting in negative consequences for field workers.
The Federal Labor Law and the Federal Law of the IMSS half consider the protection that they must give their citizens and the clear rules that they must establish for employers, in order to form a town with greater equality and thus reduce part of the social poverty that predominates today.
Introduction
The construction sector is having a difficult time so far in the second quarter of 2013, since according to INEGI it reported a contraction of 2.1% in its production index, this is motivated by: a) a slowdown in the Internal Product Gross since the SHCP (Secretary of Finance and Public Credit) reported a 0.83 growth in the first quarter of the year; b) reduction of public spending by the new government; c) bankruptcy of the three three most important housing companies in the country due to the change in the construction rules of the country where the government stopped financing horizontal type houses that are far from urban spots and these companies had heavy investments in peripheral land to the cities.
This situation has created problems for the construction industry, which causes dangerous competition between companies, since in their impetus to obtain works, they maximize their offers at a critical level, which in case of obtaining the work does not produce well-being economical and jeopardizes its operation. Due to this scenario, companies take measures to reduce and control their production capacity using unethical actions.
The production capacity of a construction company depends on several factors, including: a) the main one is its financing power; b) solvency to be able to issue bonds before surety institutions (3 to 1 ratio) +; c) their level of leverage (supplier credits), the quality of their technical staff (engineers); d) the level of reliability (recognized company), f) the machinery and transport equipment and g) the part that the field staff will analyze.
What is the ethical axiom
It is an ethical principle based on the relationship of values, with a philosophy sustained by reason and the natural knowledge of the human being to establish the good and the bad, thereby defining their actions. It should be noted that the axiom does not have a proof or an empirical base (Patiño G., 1994).
Main exponents of axiological ethics
The German philosophers Max Scheler (1874-1928) and Nicolai Hartmann (1882-1950) built the ethical axiom based on emotional phenomena and their consequent intensions (values), this is synthesized by means of a human pattern, which is a convenient model for follow.
PyMES classification
The INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography) classifies SMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) as follows:
- Microindustry. 15 people and the value of their net sales were up to 30 million pesos a year. Small Industry. The companies that will occupy up to 100 people and their net sales will not exceed the amount of 400 million pesos a year. Medium Industry. The companies that occupy up to 250 people and the value of their sales will not exceed the amount of 1,000 million pesos a year.
+ Issuance of bonds for compliance with 10% of the total amount of the work plus another 10% for hidden defects. For each secured weight you have to have a back of three weights in properly verifiable properties, which can be taxed in favor of the surety to guarantee any default.
The Micro and Small industry represents 90% of the total companies and 50% of the total employed personnel.
Reforms, labor laws and social security for workers, related.
Reforms to the Federal Labor Law approved by the Congress of the Union in Mexico (Chamber of Deputies, 2012).
On November 13, 2012, it was approved by the Congress of the Union and sent to the Federal Executive for publication.
The most significant changes in the federal labor relations law are:
- Hourly contract, whose salary will be set by the employer and the worker in mutual agreement, before which he warned that, with this, the minimum wage would be divided and the hour would be equivalent to an average of seven pesos. Subcontracting work is defined as that by which an employer called a contractor executes works or provides services with his workers under his dependence, in favor of a contractor, natural or legal person, who sets the tasks of the contractor and the supervises in the development of the 2 services or the execution of the contracted works.
It is established that in a case of the use of the figure of subcontracting, the contractor will be considered a patron for all legal purposes of the LFT, including social security, Seasonal Hiring:
For fixed and periodic discontinuous work, this is activities that do not require the provision of services for the entire week, month or year. In these cases, at the end of the season, the employment relationship is suspended until the beginning of the following season. in terms of the Social Security Law, the obligation to pay quotas subsists.
In this matter, they also regulated subcontracting, the so-called “outsourcing”, which allows one company to hire another so that, redundancy, hire staff, a very common practice in the labor market, establishing responsibilities for the company that hires services of outsourcing, verify compliance with labor duties in the service provider company.
This shows that the authorities contemplate with these laws the protection of the worker, establishing the compulsory social security in each one of its modalities, but unfortunately the intention of these laws is lost, it is those that the Federal Law of the IMSS refers to, since there a salary tabulator is established for each of the country's regions and everything remains in its own regulation, so that workers' salaries are tabulated at a minimum wage ($ 64.76 minimum wage 2013) (Tax Administration Services, 2013) * up to three minimum wages. But in reality workers earn 4 to 6 minimum wages as base salary.
IMSS Law
Of article 106 and its transients
- The fixed fee is paid by the employer and is 20.4% of a federal district minimum wage. For policyholders whose base contribution salary is greater than 3 times the federal district minimum wage, the employer pays 1.1% of the surplus and the worker 0.4% of the surplus.
Article 106. The benefits in kind of the health and maternity insurance shall be financed as follows:
II. For policyholders whose base contribution salary is greater than three times the general daily minimum wage for the Federal District, an additional employer quota equivalent to six percent and an additional worker contribution of two percent will be covered in addition to the quota established in the previous section. percent, of the amount resulting from the difference between the base contribution salary and three times the quoted minimum wage.
Based on the foregoing, it is observed that the employer does not want to pay more than three minimum wages to the workers, since they would have to pay an additional amount of a fixed fee and another of benefits within the social security ruble.
The change in short-term operational capacity
Micro and small companies in the construction sector take special care with their operational capacity, this is a factor that leads to making profits or having losses, surviving or dying, a small variation in the amount of inventories, labor, machinery either in excess or in insufficiency can be decisive in the life of this modest business group.
Other problems that SMEs present are: a) the voracity of municipal servants (corruption), b) the captivity of federal tax collection institutions and c) Social Security.
The labor force is the first factor that the employer sees, where it tries to make its personnel more efficient, where it limits wages and tries to avoid responsibilities stipulated in the Federal Labor Law, the Social Security Law, contributions to INFONAVIT.
General payroll expenses represent 30% of its expenses, materials supplies represent 50%. In the supplies part, discounts can be obtained for prompt payment (cash purchases) achieving a savings of 5%, but if the supplies are obtained on credit, which is the most frequent, no discount can be obtained, perhaps even obtain an extra cost, therefore the only controllable can be the labor where it could be reduced up to 8%, which already represents a good profit with reference to the invoicing amounts.
Starting from the premise that Manpower is the economic concept that can be directly controlled, it is proposed to be able to reduce production capacity in the short term (Gaither & Frazier, 2003) and reduce the external effects that this is going through. type of company, which consists of:
1. Outsource an Outsorcing company.
This measure is widely used, another company is contracted to be in charge of the administration of the workers, among them the labor relationship and the payroll, thereby guaranteeing the reduction of risks of labor demands, minimum social security payments and tax receipts..
2. Seasonal hiring.
It allows hiring the worker when a greater production is needed in a certain time or for some extra activity and dismissing him when this activity has concluded.
3. Dismissal of personnel.
With this measure, it helps us to eliminate the personnel less apt to fulfill functions, reduces the social security burden, reviewing positions to fill functions with the personnel that are available.
4. Subcontracts.
If it is convenient to subcontract the workforce with a microenterprise, this action reduces indirect costs, social security and tax receipts.
Ethical axiom in SMEs due to a change in operational capacity
Applying the ethical axiom in the phrase that Nicholas Machiavelli used ¨the end justifies the means¨, this may be a behavior or a thought of a person who falls into immorality, since the means used to achieve an end can fall into actions that do not have a base of values and ethics, therefore it can hurt or harm third parties.
We will develop the example of the SMEs of the construction that on the basis of obtaining profits, which is the end of any company for profit, by which they are created, does not justify the means they use where the working class is affected.
Unfortunately, micro and small companies in the construction sector in their desire to reduce production capacity and become more productive, apply short-term actions and measures that are often unethical, where it is about outsourcing companies, outsourcing services, contracts temporary and all this in order to try to avoid paying social security or pay as little as possible for this concept and avoid all payments indicated in the Federal Labor Law for 12 days of salary per year of service, three months for compensation, percentage of Christmas bonus, etc.
Using these practices the interests of workers are unprotected, since the consequences that workers have for this type of practices can be more destructive than they appear, the negative effects of not having Social Security or not having are listed below. a fair price base:
- Workers who will probably never get a social interest credit to buy a home, because they will never be able to obtain the minimum score required by a credit institution. It is required to contribute from 3 wages onwards to be a credit candidate. When the labor is subcontracted, the subcontractor is usually a micro-enterprise and never registers the worker with the social security institutions, so they do not even have medical services. For them or for their family and in extreme cases of loss of life, widows and children are left unprotected without a pension. Workers who will not retire when they are 60 years old, regardless of whether their families have the support of a pension when they are already can't work.Very limited pensions since possibly the salary with which they are registered in the social security institutions is the minimum salary, thus achieving at 60 years of age a monthly pension of $ 2,000.00, which in the long run deteriorates our society, which day with day it becomes with problems of vandalism, drug addiction and social inequality.
Conclusions
A double effort is required on the one hand through the chambers of the construction industry, the National Housing Chamber and others, to serve as a regulator in the competition of SMEs, so that they do not fall into disproportionate prices for existing competition.
Institutions like the IMSS must have a salary tabulator where all companies respect them, so that competition is not unfair, also abolish the existence of Outsourcing, which are companies destined to evade taxes and responsibilities.
Inform future entrepreneurs about the ethical axioms to provide the main part of every company, which is the field work staff, what legitimately belongs to them and with it, provide and give us a better country with less inequalities.
Bibliography
- Chamber of Deputies. (November 30, 2012). www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/125.pdf. Retrieved on June 8, 2013 (2003). Production and Operations Administration. In N. Gaither, & G. Frazier. Mexico: Edemsa Impresiones SA de CV (1994). The teacher as a transmitter of values. In S. Patiño G.. Monterrey: ITESM Monterrey Campus Center for Ethical Values. Tax Administration Services. (January 2013). www.sat.gob.mx/sitie-internet/asistencia. Retrieved on June 7, 2013
