First package of Plan C reforms approved

With the vote of all political forces, the Constitutional Affairs Committee endorsed the opinions to guarantee in the Constitution a universal old-age pension and the supplement that guarantees retirees an income equivalent to their last salary; to set a professional salary for doctors, nurses, teachers and military personnel, as well as the housing rental program proposed by Claudia Sheinbaum.

Last night, the commission approved a first package of four of the 18 presidential initiatives to reform the Constitution. In terms of retirement, it voted to grant an old-age pension, as well as to give constitutional status to the Pension Fund for Welfare and that the pensions of workers who have been contributing under the individual savings system since 1997 should be at least 16,777.68 pesos per month.

Morena defended that the complementary payment to pensions leaves behind the neoliberal conception that pensions are a financial product.

PAN and PRD warned that the complementary payment to the fund includes trapsas it provides for non-recurring sources of financing, and even a budget for the disappearance of autonomous bodies, a reform that has not yet been approved.

At Morena’s suggestion, these sources were eliminated from the transitional articles, but only because they were already provided for in the April legal reform that created the fund and came into force in June.

Among others, the following are considered: resources for the extinction of autonomous bodies and trusts of the Judicial Branch –still in litigation–, or possible profits from the operations of Mexicana, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport or the Maya Train.

What profits? These companies are subsidizedPAN member Hector Saul Tellez ironically said.

The commission also unanimously approved defining in the Constitution a minimum professional salary for primary school teachers – but only for full-time teachers – police officers, national guards, military personnel and sailors, as well as medical and nursing personnel.

This salary will also be 16,777.68 pesos, with an annual increase in relation to the observed inflation.

In the exchange of positions, deputies Laura Haro (PRI) and Irma Juan Carlos (Morena) became entangled in a bitter discussion, which the latter settled with a phrase that caused hilarity: I’m going to the bathroom to do something more useful!

At the time of going to press, the commission also approved the social housing rental program for young people and defined a social housing system that allows them to obtain a loan after one year of contributing to Infonavit.